Drummer for Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, Rock & Roll Hall-of-Fame inductee, Grammy Award winner and friend of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Education Foundation.

Chris Vrenna’s career has been anything but standard mission protocol. 

Vrenna joined our podcast Dare to Explore to talk about music, space, and how a meaningful, committed mission can bridge the gap between industries, between dreams, and even build another stop at the intersection of arts and science. 

Even with this incredible, far-reaching career, Vrenna wanted to talk to us most about the things he says he can’t do. 

“One of the movies that’s been on cable constantly for years is The Martian, and it’s all rooted in very real technology,” said Vrenna. “It’s crazy how in it he goes and finds the old Mars Rover and fires it up, simply because the batteries have died, which is really one of the only ways they stop functioning, and through that figures out how to communicate back to Earth.”

“It’s so cool to me that we have this technology,” continued Vrenna. “I’m fascinated by things I don’t understand and things I can’t do, and [communication through space] is the biggest one of them all. When James Webb started sending pictures, didn’t we all just sit there looking at the first images? It looked like a poster straight out of the 70s – just phenomenal. 

Vrenna showed this love of discovery and learning when he talked to us about education. He spoke on the virtue of knowledge, and how knowledge is worth acquiring for the sake of knowledge. That knowledge doesn’t need a reason. 

“Sometimes, learning is just about learning,” said Vrenna. “If we don’t support that, how are we supposed to have a productive society.” 

This passion for education is perhaps most shown off in Vrenna’s newest mission: teaching. After a second torn rotator cuff from his music career, Vrenna knew it was time to lean into his other life-long love – discovery. Since 2018, he has been a professor right here in Huntsville, Alabama, helping to show the next generation of artists, scientists and citizens that sometimes, you don’t have to choose one path or another. Sometimes, it’s okay to discover them all. 

Learn more about Vrenna and other scientists, engineers, and professionals from the space and aeronautics field by subscribing to “Dare to Explore,” the official podcast of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Foundation. “Dare to Explore” can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen.