Astronaut and UC Davis engineering alumnus Stephen Robinson will share first-hand tales of his recent shuttle mission when he visits the campus on Thursday, Feb. 18. Robinson, a Sacramento native who began working for NASA while still a UC Davis student, graduated in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. He went on to earn master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. Robinson's shuttle flight on Oct. 29 to Nov. 7, 1998, was his second. One of his crew mates was John Glenn, who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the Earth. During last fall's nine-day mission, the shuttle crew accomplished a variety of research goals, including investigations on the aging process and deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems. Robinson and his colleagues orbited Earth 34 times, traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes. Robinson last visited the campus in October 1997. His Feb. 18 visit to Davis will include two public lectures. Both will be essentially the same, with slides, videos and Robinson's typically humorous take on "The Flight of Discovery: STS-95 From a Crew Perspective." Each lecture will last about 45 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of answering questions from the audience. Both lectures are free but tickets are required for admission. The schedule is: -- Feb. 18, noon, Main Theatre, UC Davis campus. Tickets are available at the UC Davis Box Office at Freeborn Hall, (530) 752-1915. -- Feb. 18, 8 p.m., Varsity Theater, 616 2nd St., downtown Davis. Tickets are available at Armadillo Music, 205 F St., downtown Davis, (530) 758-8058. EDITOR'S NOTES: Steve Robinson may be available for interviews on campus after his first appearance, from about 1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. If you are interested in scheduling an interview, please call Sylvia Wright in the UC Davis News Service as soon as possible. Videotape of Robinson in astronaut training and aboard the shuttle is available. Contact Benny Cheney, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, (281) 483-2975. JPEG files of the official NASA photo portrait of Steve Robinson, with American flag and shuttle background, are available. Black and white: Request it by e-mail from aerafferty@ucdavis.edu. Color: Download it at .