Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper | |
---|---|
![]() Stefanyshyn-Piper in 2003 | |
Born | Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn February 7, 1963 |
Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS) |
Spouse | Glenn A. Piper |
Children | 1 |
Space career | |
NASA astronaut | |
Rank | Captain, USN |
Time in space | 27d 15h 36m [1] |
Selection | NASA Group 16 (1996) |
Total EVAs | 5 |
Total EVA time | 33h 42m [1] |
Missions | STS-115 STS-126 |
Mission insignia | ![]() ![]() |
Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper (born February 7, 1963) is an American Naval officer and former NASA astronaut. [2] She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha.
Stefanyshyn-Piper has received numerous honors and awards, such as the Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, and two Navy Achievement Medals. She has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, during which she completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours and 42 minutes. As of 2017 [update] , she ranks 39th on the all-time list of space walkers by duration. [3]
Stefanyshyn-Piper was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, of Ukrainian-American heritage. Her father, Michael (Mykhailo) Stefanyshyn, now deceased, was born in Polish-governed Halychyna (today in Ukraine), and sent to work in Germany during World War II. [4] After the end of the war, he married a German woman and they both immigrated to the U.S. [4] Stefanyshyn-Piper's mother, Adelheid Stefanyshyn, lived in St. Paul until her death in 2018. [2] [5] Stefanyshyn-Piper was raised in the Ukrainian cultural community of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, is a member of Plast – a Ukrainian scouting organization, [6] and speaks Ukrainian. [4]
Stefanyshyn-Piper graduated in 1980 from what was then the all-girls Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, and holds Bachelor of Science (1984) and Master of Science (1985) degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a licensed ham radio operator with Technician License KD5TVR. [7] [8]
Stefanyshyn-Piper married Glenn A. Piper, and they have one son. [4] Stefanyshyn-Piper hyphenated her surname after marriage to serve as a reminder of her family roots. [4]
Stefanyshyn-Piper received her commission from the Naval ROTC Program at MIT in June 1985. [2] She completed training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida as a Navy Basic Diving Officer and Salvage Officer. [2] During her Salvage tour, she participated in the de-stranding of the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point in Hawaii. [2] As of July 2009, Stefanyshyn-Piper was a Captain in the United States Navy. [2]
During her military career, she was awarded: the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legion of Merit medals, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, two Navy Achievement Medals, and other service medals.
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, Stefanyshyn-Piper reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. After two years of training and evaluation, she qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Initially assigned to astronaut support duties for launch and landing, she has also served as lead Astronaut Office Representative for Payloads and in the Astronaut Office EVA branch. [2]
Stefanyshyn-Piper flew her first mission on STS-115, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis (launched September 9, 2006, and returned September 21), as a mission specialist and became only the 8th woman to perform a spacewalk (out of 180 total spacewalkers). Stefanyshyn-Piper's participation in two of the mission's three EVAs for a total of 12 hours, 8 minutes made her the second most experienced female spacewalker. She also became the first Minnesota woman to go into space. [9]
During her pre-flight interview, she described her philosophy about human exploration of space:
To me exploring space is just a natural progression of, where humans are going. As we become more advanced and we have more technology to go farther. Thousands of years ago people would just go beyond the next hill, go over the mountain, go across the river. Then it led to going across the oceans. And, then it was "OK, let's go into the skies." We now have airplanes. We can fly. We have submarines and submersibles; we can go into the waters. So looking into the skies and looking at the stars and at the planets and thinking, what's out there... We're curious. We, as humans always want to know what's out there. To me it, it just seems natural that we've looked around here and we're just going to go look out farther. We're still developing the means to go out there farther. But that's just where we're going to go next. To me, exploration makes sense because we're always looking at what's the next thing out there -- what else can we learn, and how can we go there. Maybe we can learn something that we can bring back here and help solve some of the problems we have on Earth. [12]
Piper fainted twice during the STS-115 welcome home ceremony. The NASA flight surgeon who assisted her noted that "for a returning astronaut, the symptoms she experienced are very normal for what can occur during re-adaptation". [13]
Stefanyshyn-Piper was commander of the 12th expedition of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), a NASA program for studying human survival in the Aquarius underwater laboratory in preparation for future space exploration. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Stefanyshyn-Piper flew as a mission specialist on STS-126, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour (launched November 14, 2008, and returned November 30), during which she participated in and was Lead Spacewalker on three of four spacewalks. The mission ended when Endeavour landed successfully at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Following Stefanyshyn-Piper's third spacewalk during STS-126, her fifth overall, her total time in EVA became 33 hours, 42 minutes, putting her in twenty-fifth place for total time in EVA. [19]
During the first EVA of STS-126 on November 18, 2008, as Stefanyshyn-Piper was preparing to begin work on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, she noticed a significant amount of grease in her tool bag. "I think we had a grease gun explode in the large bag, because there's grease in the bag," Stefanyshyn-Piper reported to Kimbrough, who was working inside the shuttle to help coordinate the EVA. [20] [21] Mission Control managers instructed Stefanyshyn-Piper to clean up the grease using a dry wipe, and while she was doing the cleanup, she accidentally pushed aside the bag. "I guess one of my crew lock bags was not transferred and it's loose," Stefanyshyn-Piper told Kimbrough. [21] The bag floated aft and starboard of the station, and did not pose a risk to the station or orbiter. The bag and its contents entered Low Earth Orbit as space debris, where it eventually burned-up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere west of Mexico on August 3, 2009. [26] When in orbit, it was visible from the ground using a telescope. [27]
After taking an inventory of the items inside the lost bag, managers on the ground determined that Bowen had all those items in his bag, and the two could share equipment. [21] While it extended the EVA duration slightly, the major objectives were not changed. [20] [21] The estimated value of the equipment lost is US$100,000. [28]
During the Mission Status Briefing, lead International Space Station Flight Director Ginger Kerrick said that there was no way to know what caused the bag to come loose. [29] "We don't know that this incident occurred because they forgot to tether something. We don't know if perhaps the hook just came loose inside the bag," Kerrick said. "You've got to remember, we are working with humans here and we are prone to human error. We do the best we can, and we learn from our mistakes." [29] Said Stefanyshyn-Piper of the incident, "that definitely was not the high point of the EVA. It was very disheartening to watch it float away."
In July 2009, Stefanyshyn-Piper retired from NASA's Astronaut Corps to return to her Navy duties. [26]
Fellow astronaut Steven Lindsey, Chief of the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, stated on her retirement: "Heide has been an outstanding astronaut, contributing significantly to the Space Shuttle and Space Station programs. In particular, her superb leadership as lead spacewalker during the STS-126 mission resulted in restoring full power generation capability to the International Space Station. We wish her the best of luck back in the Navy – she will be missed." [30] She was awarded two NASA Space Flight Medals, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
In August 2009, Stefanyshyn-Piper reported to the Naval Sea Systems Command as the Chief Technology Officer.
On May 20, 2011 Captain Stefanyshyn-Piper became commander of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Maryland. [31]
Stefanyshyn-Piper retired from the U.S. Navy after 30 years of active duty service on July 1, 2015. [32]
Michael López-Alegría is an astronaut, test pilot and commercial astronaut with dual nationality, American and Spanish; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission. He is known for having performed ten spacewalks so far in his career, presently holding the second longest all-time EVA duration record and having the fifth-longest spaceflight of any American at the length of 215 days; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006, to April 21, 2007. López-Alegría commanded Axiom-1, the first ever all-private team of commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station, which launched on April 8, 2022, and spent just over 17 days in Earth's orbit.
Peggy Annette Whitson is an American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut working for Axiom Space. She retired from NASA in 2018, after serving as Chief Astronaut. Over all her missions, Whitson has a total of 665 days in space, more than any other American or woman.
STS-115 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space ShuttleAtlantis. It was the first assembly mission to the ISS after the Columbia disaster, following the two successful Return to Flight missions, STS-114 and STS-121. STS-115 launched from LC-39B at the Kennedy Space Center on September 9, 2006, at 11:14:55 EDT.
Robert Shane Kimbrough is a retired United States Army officer and NASA astronaut. He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Kimbrough is a veteran of three spaceflights, the first being a Space Shuttle flight, and the second being a six-month mission to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz craft. He was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 50, and returned to Earth in April 2017. He is married to the former Robbie Lynn Nickels.
STS-117 was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on June 8, 2007. Atlantis lifted off from the launch pad at 19:38 EDT. Damage from a hail storm on February 26, 2007, had previously caused the launch to be postponed from an originally-planned launch date of March 15, 2007. The launch of STS-117 marked the 250th orbital human spaceflight. It was also the heaviest flight of the Space Shuttle.
STS-119 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery during March 2009. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment (S6), and the fourth set of solar arrays and batteries to the station. The launch took place on March 15, 2009, at 19:43 EDT. Discovery successfully landed on March 28, 2009, at 15:13 pm EDT.
STS-120 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on October 23, 2007, from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission is also referred to as ISS-10A by the ISS program. STS-120 delivered the Harmony module and reconfigured a portion of the station in preparation for future assembly missions. STS-120 was flown by Space ShuttleDiscovery, and was the twenty-third Space Shuttle mission to the ISS.
STS-126 was the one hundred and twenty-fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and twenty-second orbital flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (OV-105) to the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of the mission, referred to as ULF2 by the ISS program, was to deliver equipment and supplies to the station, to service the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ), and repair the problem in the starboard SARJ that had limited its use since STS-120. STS-126 launched on 15 November 2008 at 00:55:39 UTC from Launch Pad 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) with no delays or issues. Endeavour successfully docked with the station on 16 November 2008. After spending 15 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes, and 30 seconds docked to the station, during which the crew performed four spacewalks, and transferred cargo, the orbiter undocked on 28 November 2008. Due to poor weather at Kennedy Space Center, Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 30 November 2008 at 21:25:09 UTC.
STS-125, or HST-SM4, was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis occurred on May 11, 2009, at 2:01 pm EDT. Landing occurred on May 24 at 11:39 am EDT, with the mission lasting a total of just under 13 days.
STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. Discovery launched on May 31, 2008, at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of May 25, 2008, and landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, at 11:15 EDT on June 14, 2008. Its objective was to deliver the largest module of the space station – Kibō, the Japanese Experiment Module pressurized section. The mission is also referred to as ISS-1J by the ISS program.
STS-129 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Atlantis was launched on November 16, 2009, at 14:28 EST, and landed at 09:44 EST on November 27, 2009, on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. It was also the last Shuttle mission of the 2000s.
STS-130 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Space ShuttleEndeavour's primary payloads were the Tranquility module and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center, providing a 360-degree view around the station. Endeavour launched at 04:14 EST on February 8, 2010 and landed at 22:22 EST on February 21, 2010, on runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility.
STS-131 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Space ShuttleDiscovery launched on April 5, 2010, at 6:21 am from LC-39A, and landed at 9:08 am on April 20, 2010, on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. The mission marked the longest flight for Space Shuttle Discovery.
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Richard Robert "Ricky" Arnold II is an American educator and a NASA astronaut. He flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-119, which launched March 15, 2009, and delivered the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. He launched again in 2018 to the ISS, onboard Soyuz MS-08.
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Since construction started, the International Space Station programme has had to deal with several maintenance issues, unexpected problems and failures. These incidents have affected the assembly timeline, led to periods of reduced capabilities of the station and in some cases could have forced the crew to abandon the space station for safety reasons, had these problems not been resolved.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration .