Wong’s space draws record crowd

It’s likely there is other life in our universe but we’d be smart not to go looking for it since it may be much more sophisticated and may not be friendly. That was just one of the editorial comments offered by JPL engineer Dr. Edward Wong during a question-and-answer session following a fascinating talk on Feb. 8 presented by the Arcadia Museum Foundation.

The talk covering myriad space-related topics incluidng details of Curiosity Rover on Mars was in front of an audience of 86 attendees, probably the largest crowd yet gathered for such a talk in the Spring Lecture Hall of the new Arcadia Museum Education Center. Attendees enjoyed delicious refreshments served by the Friends of the Museum.

Following are photographs from the event…

Wong, an Arcadia resident since 1993, is a Principal Engineer and Technical Group Leader at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He was the technical manager for the design of guidance and control flight algorithm software for the Mars Curiosity Mission.

He has received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, the NASA Space Act Award, and other NASA Group Achievement Awards. His paper on the Curiosity Landing, written with co-authors, was awarded the “best paper in 2013” at an internationally known aerospace conference.

The former President of the Arcadia Chinese Association is also a member of board of directors of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, where he previously chaired the Asian Business Night event. He also previously served on the City of Arcadia’s Gold Line Grade Separation Bond Citizen Oversight Committee.