CANTON -- A Canton woman's name flew all the way to the Ryugu asteroid and back and it's not the first time her name has been in space, although she had never left the planet.

Clarkson Research Professor Dana Barry's name aboard Japan’s Hayabusa -2 unmanned spacecraft that recently returned to Earth with samples from the asteroid Ryugu.

The spacecraft was launched in 2014 and arrived at Ryugu in 2018 where it collected several samples. Scientists hope the precious samples, which are expected to amount to no more than 0.1 grams of material, will teach us about the origin and evolution of our solar system and help efforts to defend Earth from potential asteroid impacts.

Dr. Barry previously worked in Clarkson’s Space Grant Program, has carried out NASA-related mission work, and is a member of the Planetary Society.

"I was honored to be invited to have my name aboard Japan's spacecraft, the first in the world to land on an asteroid and to return some dust samples to Earth," Barry said. "It is also an honor for the Canton community to have a resident's name aboard the spacecraft (from another country) for a World First Mission."

Barry was also involved with having students from St. Mary's School to carry out an experiment on Endeavor. The students planned cinnamon basil seeds flown aboard the space shuttle and identical seeds that were Earth-based. That experiment was to see which seeds would grow best. Results were that the Earth bound seeds grew faster, taller and looked healthier, she added.

Hayabusa-2 plans to visit two more asteroids during the next 10 years. Asteroids are rocky bodies orbiting the Sun. They are especially found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is interesting to note that the asteroid Ryugu is named for a Japanese folktale about a magical palace at the bottom of the sea.

Dr. Barry is a Research Professor in Clarkson University’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, an Instructional Support Assistant at SUNY Canton, Scientific Board President and Professor for Ansted University, and a Chemistry Ambassador and officer for the American Chemical Society. She has five graduate degrees and close to 300 professional/academic publications.

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