Patrick Forrester | |
---|---|
Born | Patrick Graham Forrester March 31, 1957 El Paso, Texas, U.S. |
Education | United States Military Academy (BS) University of Virginia (MS) |
Space career | |
NASA astronaut | |
Rank | Colonel, USA (ret.) |
Time in space | 39d 14h 18m [1] |
Selection | NASA Group 16 (1996) |
Total EVAs | 4 |
Total EVA time | 25h 22m [1] |
Missions | STS-105 STS-117 STS-128 |
Mission insignia |
Patrick Graham Forrester (born March 31, 1957) is a NASA astronaut, engineer, and former Chief of the Astronaut Office. He is a retired United States Army colonel and Army aviator. He is married and has two children.
Forrester flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-105, STS-117, and STS-128.
Born March 31, 1957, in El Paso, Texas, he is an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. [2] Forrester is married to the former Diana Lynn Morris of Springfield, Virginia. They have two sons, Patrick Forrester, Jr. and Andrew. His father, Colonel (ret.) Redmond V. Forrester, is deceased; his mother, Patsy L. Forrester, is deceased.
Forrester graduated from West Point in June 1979 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He entered the U.S. Army Aviation School in 1979 and was designated an Army Aviator in September 1980. He was subsequently assigned as an instructor pilot at the Aviation School, and as the aide-de-camp to the Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Aviation Center. In 1984, he was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where he served as a platoon leader, aviation company operations officer, and an assault helicopter battalion operations officer. After completing a master of science degree at the University of Virginia in 1989, he was assigned as a flight test engineer and as the research and development coordinator with the Army Aviation Engineering Flight Activity at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In June 1992, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and was designated an experimental test pilot. In 1992, he was assigned as an engineering test pilot at the U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Other military schools include the Army Parachutist Course, U.S. Army Ranger School, the Combined Arms Services Staff School, and the Command and General Staff College.
A Master Army Aviator, Forrester has logged over 5,500 hours in over 50 different aircraft.
Forrester retired from the Army in October 2005.
Forrester was assigned to NASA at the Johnson Space Center as an aerospace engineer in July 1993. His technical assignments within the Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch have included: flight software testing with the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); Astronaut Office representative for Landing/Rollout issues, Multi-function Electronic Display System (MEDS) upgrade of the Orbiter fleet, and the Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT). He has also served as the crew representative for robotics development for the International Space Station.
Forrester was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in May 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Initially, Forrester was assigned to duties at the Kennedy Space Center as a member of the astronaut support team, responsible for Shuttle prelaunch vehicle checkout, crew ingress and strap-in, and crew egress after landing. He next served as the technical assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations. Following that, Forrester served as the Shuttle training and on-board crew procedures representative. Forrester flew on STS-105 in 2001, with the crew of STS-117 in 2007, and as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission in 2009. He has logged over 950 hours in space, including four spacewalks totaling 25 hours and 22 minutes of EVA time.
He was announced as Chief of the Astronaut Office on June 2, 2017. He is the first Army officer to hold this position. He replaced Chris Cassidy who returned to normal flight status. He served in this position until December 20, 2020, when Gregory R. Wiseman was selected. [3]
Discovery (August 10–22, 2001) was the 11th mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While at the orbital outpost, the STS-105 crew delivered the Expedition 3 crew, attached the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), and transferred over 2.7 metric tons of supplies and equipment to the station. During the mission, Forrester and Dan Barry performed two spacewalks totaling 11 hours and 45 minutes of EVA time. Forrester served as the prime robotics operator to install the MPLM. STS-105 also brought home the Expedition 2 crew. The STS-105 mission was accomplished in 186 orbits of the Earth, traveling over 4.9 million miles in 285 hours and 13 minutes.
Atlantis (June 8–22, 2007) was the 118th Shuttle mission and the 21st mission to visit the ISS, delivering the second starboard truss segment, the third set of U.S. solar arrays and batteries and associated equipment. The successful construction and repair mission involved four spacewalks by two teams. Forrester accumulated 13 hours and 37 minutes of EVA time in two spacewalks. The mission also delivered crewmember Clayton Anderson, and returned with Sunita Williams from the Expedition 15 crew. STS-117 returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California, having traveled 5.8 million miles in 14 days.
Discovery (August 28-September 11, 2009) was the 128th Shuttle mission and the 30th mission to the ISS. While at the orbital outpost, the STS-128 crew rotated Nicole Stott for crewmember Timothy Kopra on Expedition 20, attached the Leonardo MPLM and transferred more than 18,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the ISS. The STS-128 crew conducted three spacewalks. Forrester served as the prime robotics operator for Discovery. The STS-128 mission was accomplished in 217 orbits of the Earth, traveling more than 5.7 million miles in 332 hours and 53 minutes and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Jerry Lynn Ross is a retired United States Air Force officer, engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. Ross is a veteran of 7 Space Shuttle missions, making him the joint record holder for most spaceflights.
Karol Joseph "Bo" Bobko was an American aerospace engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and a USAF and NASA astronaut. Bobko was the first graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy to travel in space and the first person to fly on three different space shuttles across three different missions: STS-6, STS-51-D, STS-51-J.
STS-105 was the 30th mission of Space Shuttle Discovery, in which Discovery went to the International Space Station. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 10 August 2001. This mission was Discovery's final mission until STS-114, because Discovery was grounded for a refit, and then all Shuttles were grounded in the wake of the Columbia disaster. The refit included an update of the flight deck to the glass cockpit layout, which was already installed on Atlantis and Columbia.
Brian Duffy is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions.
Charles Owen Hobaugh is a former NASA astronaut and a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer. He has had three spaceflights, all of which were Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station, lasting between 10 and 13 days.
Steven Wayne Lindsey is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Lindsey served as Chief of the NASA Astronaut Office from September 2006 until October 2009.
Mark Lewis "Roman" Polansky is an American aerospace engineer and research pilot and a former NASA astronaut. Polansky received the nickname "Roman" as a joke, because he shares a last name with director Roman Polanski. He flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-98, STS-116, and STS-127 and was first person of Korean ancestry in space.
Pierre Joseph Thuot is a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He went into space three times, spending over 650 hours in space, including over 15 hours in three space walks. He is a former U.S. record holder for time spent on one spacewalk, and participated in the first three-person spacewalk.
James Shelton Voss is a retired United States Army colonel and NASA astronaut. During his time with NASA, Voss flew in space five times on board the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. He also served as deputy of Flight Operations for the Space Station Program Mission Integration and Operations Office. While participating in ISS Expedition 2, he and Susan Helms conducted an 8-hour and 56 minute spacewalk, the longest to date.
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.
Christopher J. "Fergy" Ferguson is a Boeing commercial astronaut and a retired United States Navy captain and NASA astronaut. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis on his first mission to space, STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006, and returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. He then commanded STS-126 aboard Space ShuttleEndeavour. In 2011, he was assigned as commander of STS-135, which was the final mission of the space shuttle program.
Douglas Harry "Wheels" Wheelock is an American engineer and astronaut. He has flown in space twice, logging 178 days on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Russian Soyuz. On July 12, 2011, Wheelock announced that he would be returning to active duty with the United States Army in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He is currently working with NASA to test the Orion spacecraft at the Glenn Research Center in Plum Brook, Ohio.
Timothy Lennart "Tim" Kopra is an American engineer, a Colonel in the United States Army, and a retired NASA astronaut. He served aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, returning to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission on September 11, 2009. He returned to the ISS for the second time in December 2015, as part of Expedition 46 and as the commander of 47.
Alan Goodwin "Dex" Poindexter was an American naval officer and a NASA astronaut. Poindexter was selected in the 1998 NASA Group (G17) and went into orbit aboard Space Shuttle missions STS-122 and STS-131.
STS-128 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on August 28, 2009. Space ShuttleDiscovery carried the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo as its primary payload. It was Discovery's 37th flight. Leonardo contained a collection of experiments for studying the physics and chemistry of microgravity. Three spacewalks were carried out during the mission, which removed and replaced a materials processing experiment outside ESA's Columbus module, and returned an empty ammonia tank assembly.
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 and its 38th and penultimate flight.
Randolph James "Komrade" Bresnik is a retired officer in the United States Marine Corps and an active NASA astronaut. A Marine Aviator by trade, Bresnik was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 19 in May 2004. He first launched to space on STS-129, then served as flight engineer for Expedition 52, and as ISS commander for Expedition 53.
Douglas Gerald Hurley is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot and former NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-127 and STS-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle program. He launched into space for the third time as commander of Crew Dragon Demo-2, the first crewed spaceflight from American soil since STS-135 and became, together with Bob Behnken, the first astronaut in history launching aboard a commercial orbital spacecraft. He was also the first Marine to fly the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. His call sign is "Chunky", and he was sometimes referred to by this name on the communication loops.
STS-135 was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter Atlantis and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 launched on July 8, 2011, and landed on July 21, 2011, following a one-day mission extension. The four-person crew was the smallest of any shuttle mission since STS-6 in April 1983. The mission's primary cargo was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Raffaello and a Lightweight Multi-Purpose Carrier (LMC), which were delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The flight of Raffaello marked the only time that Atlantis carried an MPLM.
Leonardo, also known as the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) is a module of the International Space Station. It was flown into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-133 on 24 February 2011 and installed on 1 March. Leonardo is primarily used for storage of spares, supplies and waste on the ISS, which was until then stored in many different places within the space station. It is also the personal hygiene area for the astronauts who live in the US Orbital Segment. The Leonardo PMM was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) before 2011, then was modified into its current configuration. It was formerly one of two MPLM used for bringing cargo to and from the ISS with the Space Shuttle. The module was named for Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration .