Nancy Conrad | |
|---|---|
 Nancy Conrad (right) speaks with two alumni at the 2022 Conrad Summit | |
| Born | Nancy Crane Denver, Colorado |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Teacher, author, publisher, entrepreneur, and public speaker |
| Organization | Conrad Foundation |
| Spouse | Astronaut Pete Conrad |
Nancy (Crane) Conrad is a teacher, author, publisher, entrepreneur, and public speaker. She is the wife of late astronaut Pete Conrad and Founder and Chair of the Conrad Foundation.
She was born in Denver, Colorado, where she became a high school English teacher at George Washington High School. She later began work in the publishing industry as Associate Publisher for International Business Woman magazine. While at this publication, Conrad interviewed many notable women including Betty Ford, Kay Koplovitz, Mary Kay Ash and Caroline Rose Hunt. She also served as a contributing writer for the articles “ “A Century on Wheels: The Great American Race” [1] and “100 Years of Moving Pictures.” [2]
In 1996, Nancy Conrad founded four companies with her husband Pete Conrad to make space travel more accessible to all individuals: Universal Space Network (USN), Universal Spacelines, Universal Spaceware, and Rocket Development Company. She was the Director of Communications for Universal Space Network, which is now SSC Space US, Inc. [3] [4] Nancy also founded Universal Spaceworks, an astronaut licensing company representing 20 astronauts who worked at NASA. Universal Spaceworks produced educational products based on the exploration of space, including the book, Heroes of Space, published in 1999 by Intervisual Books. [5] Under Nancy Conrad’s leadership, Universal Spaceworks collaborated with Bandai America, Saban Entertainment’s toy licensee for the “Power Rangers in Space,” in 1998 to create a line of action figures called “Heroes of Space.” The line portrayed former astronauts of America’s space program, including moonwalker Pete Conrad from Apollo 12, Charles Duke from Apollo 16, and Alan Bean from Apollo 12. [6]
Nancy Conrad co-developed One Giant Leap for Mankind, chosen by NASA as the official book for the 25th anniversary of the first lunar landing. She interviewed 11 Apollo Program astronauts for the book. [7] She also co-founded Pepper Pike Graphix, an educational comic book publishing company that produced Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, used by filmmaker and actor Tom Hanks as a source for the 1998 HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon . Conrad co-authored her husband’s posthumous biography, Rocketman: Astronaut Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon and Beyond, with Space Cowboys screenwriter, Howard Klausner. Rocketman was published by Penguin Books USA in 2005. [8]
Following Pete Conrad’s death after a motorcycle accident in 1999, [9] Nancy Conrad shared Pete’s story with global audiences and in the Discovery Channel documentary Surfing the Healthcare Tsunami: Bring Your Best Board . [10] When Nancy Conrad learned that her husband’s death was preventable, she co-founded the Community Emergency Healthcare Initiative through the Texas Medical Institute of Technology, to assist small and rural hospital emergency services. [11] The Pete Conrad Global Patient Safety Award established by Nancy Conrad, is awarded to extraordinary health care leaders and institutions that bring life saving solutions into frontline healthcare use. [11] Some past winners of the award include Sorrel King, Susan Sheridan, Heather Foster, Gregory H. Botz, William H. Adcox, David Beshk, Perry Bechtle III, Charles Denham III, C. R. Denham II, [12] Donald Berwick, Carolyn M. Clancy, Janet Corrigan, Peter Angood, Suzanne Delbanco, James Bagian, J. Michael Henderson, David Classen, Steven Swensen, David Hunt, Dan Ford, Arlene Salamendra, Becky Martins, Jennifer Dingman, Mary Foley, and Patti O'Regan. [13]
In 2008, Nancy Conrad founded the Conrad Foundation to engage high school students across the globe to use STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), innovation and entrepreneurship to develop technologies and solutions to real-world needs. [14] [15] The organization’s flagship program, the Conrad Spirit of Innovation Challenge, is a competition challenging students to combine education, innovation, and entrepreneurship to create commercially viable products that address issues in sustainability. [16] [17] [18]
Conrad is a published author and Editorial Advisory Board Member of the Journal of Patient Safety [19] and a member of the Patient Engagement Board of the Global Patient Safety Team. She serves on the President’s Circle of the National Academies of Sciences, [20] Explorer’s Club, and the Cosmos Club. [21] [22] Conrad has testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology discussing how the Conrad Foundation uses partnership and mentorship to improve STEM education. [23] Conrad also serves on the Advisory Board of the B612 Foundation. She is a founding partner of the Global Patient Safety team advisory Board. Conrad served as a co-chair of the U.S. News & World Report STEMS Solutions 2012. She has been affiliated with the STEM Education Coalition, STEMconnector, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, and the Presidential Scholars. Conrad is a member of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) Leadership Council.
Conrad is a recipient of the Thomas Jefferson High School 2011 Tommy Award for her contributions to STEM education. In 2012, U.S. News & World Report and STEMconnector named Conrad one of 100 Top Women Leaders in STEM and inducted her into the 100 Top Women Leaders in STEM Hall of Fame. [24]
In 2019 Nancy Conrad was awarded a Disruptive Innovator award. The Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, helmed by co-founder Craig Hatkoff, in collaboration with Professor Clayton Christensen, celebrates disruptive innovation across the full spectrum of traditional and non-traditional domains ranging from technology, biomed, politics, education, healthcare, spirituality, religion, economics, sports, fashion and philanthropy. [25]
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program carried out by NASA, which succeeded in landing the first men on the Moon in 1969, following Project Mercury, which put the first Americans in space. It was conceived in 1960 as a three-person spacecraft during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal for the 1960s of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in an address to Congress on May 25, 1961. It was the third US human spaceflight program to fly, preceded by Project Gemini conceived in 1961 to extend spaceflight capability in support of Apollo.
Apollo 12 was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad and Lunar Module Pilot Alan L. Bean completed just over one day and seven hours of lunar surface activity while Command Module Pilot Richard F. Gordon remained in lunar orbit.
Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, former NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, and the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military aviation—to have walked on the Moon.
Alan LaVern Bean was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter. He was selected to become an astronaut by NASA in 1963 as part of Astronaut Group 3, and was the fourth person to walk on the Moon.
Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, naval officer, aviator, and test pilot who commanded the Apollo 12 mission, on which he became the third person to walk on the Moon. Conrad was selected for NASA's second astronaut class in 1962.
James Arthur Lovell Jr. is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth.
Skylab 2 was the first crewed mission to Skylab, the first American orbital space station. The mission was launched on an Apollo command and service module by a Saturn IB rocket on May 25, 1973, and carried NASA astronauts Pete Conrad, Joseph P. Kerwin, Paul J. Weitz to the station. The name Skylab 2 also refers to the vehicle used for that mission. The Skylab 2 mission established a twenty-eight-day record for human spaceflight duration. Furthermore, its crew was the first space station occupants ever to return safely to Earth – the only previous space station occupants, the crew of the 1971 Soyuz 11 mission that had crewed the Salyut 1 station for twenty-four days, died upon reentry due to unexpected cabin depressurization.
James Philip Bagian, is an American physician, engineer, and former NASA astronaut of Armenian descent. During his career as an astronaut, he logged 337 hours of space-flight, over two missions, STS-29 and STS-40. After leaving NASA in 1995, Bagian was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine. He was also elected as member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2000 for the integration of engineering and medical knowledge in applications to aerospace systems, environmental technology, and patient safety.
Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. She flew on five Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1998, including two dockings with the Mir space station.
Anthony Wayne "Tony" England is an American former NASA astronaut. Selected in 1967, England was among a group of astronauts who served as backups during the Apollo and Skylab programs. Like most others in his class, he flew during the Space Shuttle program, serving as a mission specialist on STS-51-F in 1985. He has logged more than 4,000 hours of flying time and 188 hours in space.
Richard Francis "Dick" Gordon Jr. was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and a football executive. He was one of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, as command module pilot of the Apollo 12 mission, which orbited the Moon 45 times. Gordon had already flown in space as the pilot of the 1966 Gemini 11 mission.
José Moreno Hernández is a Mexican-American engineer and astronaut. He currently serves as a Regent of the University of California.
NASA Astronaut Group 2 was the second group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Their selection was announced on September 17, 1962. The group augmented the Mercury Seven. President John F. Kennedy had announced Project Apollo, on May 25, 1961, with the ambitious goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, and more astronauts were required to fly the two-man Gemini spacecraft and three-man Apollo spacecraft then under development. The Mercury Seven had been selected to accomplish the simpler task of orbital flight, but the new challenges of space rendezvous and lunar landing led to the selection of candidates with advanced engineering degrees as well as test pilot experience.
The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration is a United States space advocacy organization for space industry businesses and non-profit groups supporting continued government investment in space exploration.
Space Center Houston is a science museum that serves as the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was designated a Smithsonian Affiliate museum in 2014. The organization is owned by NASA, and operated under a contract by the nonprofit Manned Spaceflight Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization. The Johnson Space Center is the home of Mission Control and astronaut training.
Margaret Elaine Hamilton is an American computer scientist. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. She later founded two software companies—Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Surfing the Healthcare Tsunami: Bring Your Best Board is a made for television documentary that explores medical errors and waste in healthcare. It was broadcast globally on the Discovery Channel in 2012. It references federally-funded studies in the United States and news footage to support the claim that healthcare workers are afraid to speak up when medical errors occur in hospitals. The documentary covers solutions to preventable system failures causing harm. It aired four times on the Discovery Channel commercial-free in North America, Germany, the U.K., France, and other Western European countries including Sweden. It premiered at the National Press Club on April 27, 2012, after a short speech by Captain Sully Sullenberger who was featured in the film. The film was screened at the Texas Health Care Quality Improvement Awards on May 3, 2012.
Niamh Shaw is an Irish scientist, engineer, STEM communicator, writer, and performer.
Julielynn Yee-Ching Wong is a physician, scientist and pilot, who is internationally recognized for using 3-D printing to deliver healthcare solutions to remote environments, including outer space. Wong is the founder and CEO of two organizations: 3D4MD and Medical Makers.
The Medical Tactical Certificate Training Program, also known as Med Tac, is a global bystander rescue care training program that focuses on life-saving actions that can be performed by non-medical bystanders for the eight leading preventable causes of death to children, youth, and adults. In urban areas in the United States, professional first responders arrive at the scene of an emergency after approximately 10 minutes. Immediate rescue care by bystanders is most effective within three minutes of an event. Treatment within this time has been found to have a significant effect on rates of survival and permanent harm. Created and expanded upon after the dramatic increase in active shooter and terrorism events, Med Tac integrates the American Heart Association Heartsaver CPR/AED Training Program, or the American Red Cross equivalent training, and the Stop the Bleed Program sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security and American College of Surgeons.
