Part of Science On Screen® 2026
Sat, Apr 18 at 2:30pm: Post-screening discussion with Chris Crumbly, Systems Engineering Technology Instructor, Calhoun Community College and Tracie Prater, aerospace engineer. Don’t miss the historical spacecraft from NASA Solar System Ambassador Chuck Schlemm and Middle Tennessee Space Society in the Belcourt lobby. | BUY TICKETS
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring ‘the Martian’ home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.
“A smart, exhilarating, often disarmingly funny return to classic adventures of yore…. Damon embodies just the right measure of confidence and self-deprecatory vulnerability to make his character a slightly goofy Everyman — even as he's expertly MacGyvering his way from one outlandish work-around to the next…. Chief among its many strengths may be that THE MARTIAN is the only sci-fi action adventure in cinematic history to reference both the hexadecimal numeric system and the Algonquin Round Table.” —Ann Hornaday, Washington Post (Oct 1, 2015) “Of all the stories you’ve seen about astronauts coping with the aftermath of disaster…THE MARTIAN is the most relaxed and funny, and maybe the warmest…. THE MARTIAN makes the future look at once spectacular and mundane. For all its splendors, the world that enfolds the characters is simply reality: the time and space in which they happen to be living.” —Matt Zoller Seitz, rogerebert.com (Oct 1, 2015) “What’s so fascinating about the film is that it truly turns on the solving of problems, and its chief solver, stuck on Mars, manages to be so funny, interesting and infallibly likable that you’re invested in his predicament at every moment.” —Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal (Oct 2, 2015)
Topic: Systems Engineering and Risk Management in Human Spaceflight (aka “I’m gonna have to science the **** out of this”)
Presentation: In THE MARTIAN, intrepid explorer Mark Watney and the crew of the Hermes experience a cascade of failures they must navigate to return home safely. Our speakers will discuss the events of the story within the context of risk management strategies and systems engineering for spaceflight. How do engineers assess and mitigate risk on space missions? How can we use systems engineering (and a systems engineering mindset) to more effectively manage risk and resolve technical issues? What technologies and skill sets might crews need on future long duration, long distance missions to help keep them safe and sustain the mission, even when the unexpected occurs?
Speakers: Chris Crumbly, Systems Engineering Technology Instructor, Calhoun Community College and Tracie Prater, aerospace engineer
About the speakers: Chris Crumbly had a 27-year career at NASA, managing the Space Launch System (SLS) Program’s Spacecraft/Payload Integration and Evolution Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. In that role, he managed the development of spacecraft and payload interfaces for SLS, including technical innovations to improve performance and cost of next-generation heavy-lift rockets for human and scientific exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. He also served as Special Assistant to NASA’s Deputy Administrator and Senior Space Policy Analyst at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Crumbly is currently an instructor of Systems Engineering Technology (SET) at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville. He also chairs the board of the Institute for Digital Enterprise Advancement (IDEA) and IDEA’s professional education entity, DigitalWERX. These nonprofits organizations were created in part to bring Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) into community colleges and accelerate digital engineering practices across the engineering community through creation of the SET curriculum.
Crumbly has also served as a principal research engineer at Auburn University, the vice-president for Digital Enterprise at Victory Solutions, the senior director for Space and Defense Programs at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI), the executive director of the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation (VCSI), and vice-president for for business development, civil and commercial space at Teledyne Brown Engineering.
A native of Rome, GA, Mr. Crumbly holds bachelor and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Auburn University and is a graduate of the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. He speaks frequently on the space program with audiences ranging from TEDx to school groups and professional societies. He serves on several professional and civic boards including the National Space Club (Huntsville), the Tennessee Valley Corridor and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He is an associate fellow of AIAA and a fellow of the American Astronautical Society (AAS).
Tracie Prater is an aerospace engineer and has 14 years of experience in the aerospace industry, where she has supported efforts related to launch vehicle manufacturing, space habitation, in-space manufacturing, advanced materials, commercial partnerships and crowdsourcing.
She is a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In her free time, she enjoys reading, film, traveling and scuba diving. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Eastern Kentucky University and a master’s and PhD in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University.
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