Wednesday, March 3, 2027, 7:30 PM

Street and Davis Performance Hall, Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre

This performance will last approximately 90 minutes with no intermission, including an audience Q&A.*

$25 reserved seating
$10 students with ID and youth 18 and under

15%-25% subscription discounts available

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National Geographic Live brings its Explorers from the field to your city, live on stage.

For Cosmic Adventures, go behind the scenes on spacecraft builds with aerospace engineer and National Geographic Explorer Tracy Drain, who answers some of the most intriguing questions about our universe.

Discover the marvels of our cosmic backyard through the eyes of the robotic spacecraft sent out to explore it. Drain works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developing, testing, and operating the complex machines that uncover some of the countless mysteries within (and way beyond!) our solar system. Among her projects: rovers on Mars, a mission to Jupiter, and a hunt for exoplanets that reshaped our entire understanding of the galaxy.

After obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky and Georgia Tech, respectively, and interning at the NASA Langley Research Center as an undergraduate student, Drain landed a full-time position on the engineering staff at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2000. 

She is a 2024 National Geographic Society Wayfinder Award recipient, and she is currently the lead flight systems engineer on the Europa Clipper mission, which should arrive at Jupiter in 2030.

This is Tracy Drain's first appearance at the center.

Photos courtesy of National Geographic Live

* Run times listed here are based on information provided at this time and are subject to change.