John Ciardi got his master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1939 and

John Ciardi was horn in 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts, the child of Italian immigrants. He attended Bates College and Tufts College and received his master’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1939. He is the author of more than forty volumes of poetry.

Most NASA spacecraft rely on some form of chemical propellant to push themselves through space. But at the Marshall-based center, researchers are studying a range of future propulsion methods, including propellant-less systems, simulated fission engines that could one-day lead to the real thing and the basic technologies necessary for future antimatter drives.