Many parents tell their children to reach for the stars. However, very few children are able to do just that. Colt Crowson, a Madill alum, was almost able to achieve that feat.
Many parents tell their children to reach for the stars. However, very few children are able to do just that. Colt Crowson, a Madill alum, was almost able to achieve that feat.
Crowson, a 2019 Madill graduate, went to the Air Force Academy right after graduation. In 2020, it was announced that he was ranked #1 in a class of 1,000.
Crowson now has a Masters in Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University and is currently a fighter pilot in training. He had to do a thesis to be awarded his Masters, and his was “Surgical Advancements for Deep Space Applications (SADSA).
Basically, his thesis argued “the management of medical emergencies in microgravity takes on critical importance to mission safety. One of these difficulties is the separation of air and blood during surgery for transfusion or storage.”
Crowson’s thesis addressed how gravity-driven separations systems used on Earth to manage blood-air mixtures during surgery does not function in microgravity. He worked on the design and development of a collapsible, capillary-based, closed-loop blood-air separation system for space use.
On May 5, 2025, they tested the closed-loop separator in a simulation with realistic blood-air mixtures. The simulation was done to provide critical data on the separator’s performance in microgravity conditions.
Not only was this Crowson’s thesis, but he was also able to take part in the testing. He said that even though he wasn’t scheduled to be part of the flight, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
"I was never supposed to fly on Zero-G's parabolic flight,” Crowson said in an interview. “I was there as part of the ground crew for my experiment, ready to support the mission from behind the scenes. But growing up in a military family taught me something simple but powerful: if you see something that needs to be done, do it. No hesitation. So, when it came time to clean up lunch, take out the trash, or help wherever I could, I just stepped in.”
Crowson said that was when somebody took notice.
“What I didn't expect was that people noticed. The Zero-G staff saw my effort, and when another team had an open seat, they chose me to fill it. And just like that, I was floating.”
In his interview, he explained how surreal and amazing it felt.
“The first two parabolas were lunar gravity. And somewhere in that moment, I realized something deeply personal,” Crowson said. “This must be what Neil Armstrong felt like when he stepped onto the Moon. For a few seconds, I felt what I had only imagined since I was six years old... being an Astronaut.”
He said that this is a giant step toward reaching his childhood dreams.
“I have always dreamed of contributing to space in any way I could. And there I was, actually testing a piece of technology I had spent two years developing and writing about for my thesis.”
“After nearly 19 years in school, this experience was the perfect way to close this chapter of my life,” he continued. “I am beyond grateful to the people who believed in me, to my mentors, to my friends who supported me, to PMRI, and to the Zero-G team who gave me this once in a lifetime opportunity.”