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Astronaut Alan Poindexter Visits PJC
6/2/2008 Navy Capt. and PJC alumnus Alan Poindexter is coming to Pensacola Junior College to share stories of his space adventure as pilot of the Atlantis space shuttle during the February 2008 NASA mission.

In celebration of PJC’s 60th Anniversary, the college invites the community to a special event 4 p.m. June 18 at the Jean & Paul Amos Performance Studio on the Pensacola campus. The program includes Poindexter returning a specially minted PJC gold medallion that he carried on his 5.3 million-mile space journey. In addition, plans include a program designed by Poindexter followed by a Q&A segment for the community and media.

“In PJC’s six-decade history, we have many truly outstanding alumni, but few as unique and outstanding as Captain Poindexter,” noted PJC President Ed Meadows. “The PJC medallion that he carried into space and back will serve as a lasting symbol of what PJC students are capable of doing, of the solid academic instruction of our faculty and of the magnificent accomplishment of PJC alumnus Captain Poindexter.”

Atlantis delivered the European Space Agency's $2 billion science lab, Columbus, to the International Space Station. The 13-day mission was hailed as nearly perfect and began the 50th Anniversary of the nation’s space program.

Poindexter arranged for PJC’s student newspaper staff to receive press credentials to cover the launch. Corsair staff Michael Rutschky, Joshua Encinias, Danica Spears and advisor Chris Drain spent several days at the Kennedy Space Center in December 2007, the original launch date. After several delays, the launch was rescheduled and Drain and Spears returned to cover the February blastoff.

After getting his associate’s degree in engineering at PJC in 1983, Poindexter graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with highest honors in 1986 and came to Pensacola Naval Air Station for flight training. He has logged more than 3,500 hours in more than 30 aircraft types and has made 450 carrier landings.

Poindexter and his wife, the former Lisa Pfeiffer of Gulf Breeze, have two children and consider the Pensacola Bay Area as a second home.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Hewey at 484-1428, ehewey@pjc.edu.