Paul Scully-Power

Last updated

Paul Desmond Scully-Power
AM GOSE FRAeS
Astronaut paul desmond scully power.jpg
Born (1944-05-28) May 28, 1944 (age 80)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian-American
Occupation Oceanographer
Space career
U.S. Navy Payload Specialist
Time in space
8d 05h 23m
Missions STS-41-G
Mission insignia
 STS-41-G patch.png

Paul Desmond Scully-Power, AM GOSE FRAeS (born May 28, 1944) is an Australian-American oceanographer, technology expert and business executive. In 1984, while a civilian employee of the United States Naval Undersea Warfare Center, he flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-41-G as a Payload Specialist. He was the first Australian-born person to journey into space, [1] and the first astronaut with a beard. [2]

Contents

During his time in space he was able to confirm the existence of spiral eddies, and observe them with the naked eye. [3] [4]

Scully-Power went on to work in private industry. He is considered a world expert in remote sensing: visible, infra-red, radar and acoustic [5] and is considered a security, aviation and aerospace expert. [6]

He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours "for service to science in the fields of oceanography and space remote sensing, and to the community through contributions to a range of government regulatory agencies and through raising public awareness of conservation issues." [7]

Early life and education

Paul Scully-Power was born in Sydney, Australia. He attended schools in London, and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and St Pius X College, Chatswood, in Sydney. He studied applied mathematics at the University of Sydney, where he resided at St John's College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 1966 and a Diploma of Education in 1967.

Career

In January 1967, after graduating from the University of Sydney, Scully-Power was approached by the Royal Australian Navy to set up the first oceanographic group within the Navy.

From January 1967 to July 1972 he was a Scientific officer, and remained the first permanent head of the oceanographic group.

From July 1972 to March 1974 he was an Australian Navy Exchange Scientist, U.S. Navy. Worked at the U.S. Naval Underwater Systems Center, New London, Connecticut, and at the Office of Naval Research, Washington, D.C. During this period, he was invited to assist the Earth Observations team on the Skylab Project and has worked in space oceanography for each manned spacecraft mission since that time.

From March 1974 to March 1975 he returned to Australia, planned and executed the joint Australia, New Zealand, United States project ANZUS EDDY, which was the first combined oceanographic and acoustic measurement of an ocean eddy ever conducted.

In 1976, he was appointed a foreign principal investigator for the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission, which was one of a series of satellites launched by NASA to explore the usefulness of remote sensing measurements.

In October 1977, he emigrated to the United States and was offered a position at the Naval Underwater Systems Center. This position is that of a senior scientist and technical specialist on the staff of the Associate Technical Director for Research and Technology with the responsibility to insure the development of a comprehensive and balanced technology base within the Center. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982.

NASA career

In June 1984, Scully-Power was chosen by NASA to be a Payload Specialist (known among the crew affectionately as a blanket counter) on the 13th Shuttle mission, which would study Earth Sciences. His space flight STS-41-G Challenger (October 5–13, 1984) was launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-41-G was the first mission with a 7-person crew, and the first to demonstrate American orbital fuel transfer. During the 8-day flight, the crew deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the earth with the OSTA-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, and demonstrated potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. At mission conclusion, Scully-Power had traveled over 3.4 million miles in 133 Earth orbits, and logged over 197 hours in space.

His role was to investigate spiral eddies, which at the time were thought to be rare. He was able to photograph them with an ordinary camera, and show that they were ubiquitous. [8]

NASA initially expected him to shave his beard before spaceflight, but allowed it after he was able to demonstrate that it did not affect his helmet's seal. [9]

Corporate career

Scully-Power became the CTO of Tenix Group in 2004, [6] and in 2007 was appointed chairman and CEO of SensorConnect Inc., a Silicon Valley high-tech company. He was formerly the CTO of the Tenix Group, Australia's largest Defence & Technology contractor. [10]

Scully-Power has extensive commercial, government and academic experience in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and is widely recognised in the fields of defence & national security, aviation & aerospace, marine science, communications & systems analysis, and education. [10]

Scully-Power has served as a director of a number of public and private corporate and advisory boards worldwide.

Scully-Power is past chairman of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority [11] and the Federal Government's International Space Advisory Group, a former Chancellor of Bond University (Australia's largest private university), and was the inaugural Chairman of the Queensland Premier's Science and Technology Council. Prior to that he spent over twenty years in the United States where he managed and led many high technology and defence industry programs. He served with the U.S. Navy, NASA, the Pentagon, and the White House, where he was the head of a Government-Industry partnership for the development of advanced communications systems as part of the White House National Technology Strategy Program. He was also responsible for the funding of major programs at universities and research institutions on behalf of the U.S. government. Additionally, he held the Distinguished Chair of Environmental Acoustics, was a research associate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, chairman of Membership of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, served on the University & College Accreditation Board, and was president of the Fort Trumbull Federal Credit Union. Before going to America, he was the inaugural head of the Royal Australian Navy's Oceanographic Group, deploying to sea on 26 cruises and qualifying as a naval ship's diver. [12]

Scully-Power was the first president of the U.N. International Commission on Space Oceanography. He is U.S. Air Force qualified for full pressure suit flying, and was a flight crew instructor in the Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. Scully-Power is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, and a Freeman of the City of London. [12]

He is involved in many business and community groups through his roles as patron of the Australian Aviation Museum, the Royal Australian Navy Laboratory Association, and the League of Ancient Mariners; past vice president of the Naval Warfare Officers' Association; a member of the International Trade and Government Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and a director of the Australia Youth Trust set up by Princess Diana. He is also a founding member of the advisory board of Environment Business Australia. Scully-Power served for five years on the Australian Trade Commission, and for eight years on the Australian Institute of Company Directors. [12] A larger than life-size oil painting of Dr Scully-Power hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. [4]

He was an advocate for the NSW bid to host the Australian Space Agency. [11]

Awards and honors

Organizations

Personal life

Scully-Power is married with six children. His recreational interests include squash and racketball, sailing, and reading.

Technical papers

Scully-Power is considered a world expert in remote sensing: visible, infra-red, radar and acoustic sensing and has earned the highest degree in science, a Doctor of Science in Applied Mathematics for his work. He has published over ninety international scientific reports and technical journal articles, including the Bakerian Lecture of the Royal Society. He has been a major contributor to the U.S. Navy's warfare appraisal and surveillance strategies, and was recognised by the University of Sydney in 1995 as its Distinguished Graduate. He discovered the phenomenon of ocean spiral eddies. [12]

He has published in many fields, including physical oceanography, underwater acoustics, remote sensing, applied mathematics, space oceanography, marine biology, meteorology, and ocean engineering.

Biography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Carpenter</span> American astronaut and aquanaut (1925–2013)

Malcolm Scott Carpenter was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut and aquanaut. He was one of the Mercury Seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959. Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space, after Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and Glenn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip K. Chapman</span> American astronaut (1935–2021)

Philip Kenyon Chapman was the first Australian-born American astronaut, serving for about five years in NASA Astronaut Group 6 (1967).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Thomas</span> Australian-American astronaut (born 1951)

Andrew Sydney Withiel "Andy" Thomas, AO is an Australian and American aerospace engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He has dual nationality; he became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's astronaut program. He is married to fellow NASA astronaut Shannon Walker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STS-41-G</span> 1984 American crewed spaceflight to deploy the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite

STS-41-G was the 13th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the sixth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. Challenger launched on October 5, 1984, and conducted the second shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center on October 13, 1984. It was the first shuttle mission to carry a crew of seven, including the first crew with two women, the first American Extravehicular activity (EVA) involving a woman (Sullivan), the first Australian-born person to journey into space as well as the first astronaut with a beard and the first Canadian astronaut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael López-Alegría</span> Spanish-American astronaut (born 1958)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Herrington</span> Native American astronaut, aviator and engineer (born 1958)

John Bennett Herrington is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut. In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled citizen of a Native American tribe to fly in space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn D. Sullivan</span> American astronaut (born 1951)

Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan is an American geologist, oceanographer, and former NASA astronaut and US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Shepherd</span> American astronaut (born 1949)

William McMichael "Bill" Shepherd, , is an American former Navy SEAL, aerospace, ocean, and mechanical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who served as commander of Expedition 1, the first crew on the International Space Station. He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. Weitz</span> American astronaut (1932–2017)

Paul Joseph Weitz was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who flew into space twice. He was a member of the three-man crew who flew on Skylab 2, the first crewed Skylab mission. He was also commander of the STS-6 mission, the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert L. Gibson</span> American astronaut (born 1946)

Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson, , is a former American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. A retired NASA astronaut, he also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1992 to 1994. Today Gibson is active as a professional pilot, racing regularly at the annual Reno Air Races. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2003 and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2013, and has received several military decorations throughout his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathryn P. Hire</span> American astronaut and captain in the US Navy Reserve (born 1959)

Kathryn Patricia "Kay" Hire is a former NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Runco Jr.</span> American astronaut (born 1952)

Mario Runco Jr. is a former United States Naval officer and NASA astronaut. He was selected as an astronaut with in 1987. He flew three Space Shuttle missions, performed a spacewalk on his second mission, and is now retired both from NASA and the U.S. Navy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre J. Thuot</span> American astronaut (born 1955)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tenix</span>

Tenix is a privately owned Australian company involved in a range of infrastructure maintenance and engineering products and services to the utility, transport, mining and industrial sectors in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper</span> American astronaut and Navy captain (born 1963)

Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer and former NASA astronaut. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randolph Bresnik</span> United States Marine Corps officer and a NASA astronaut on three expeditions

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Space nursing</span> One of the nursing specialties

Space nursing is a specialty that works with astronauts to determine medical fitness for their missions, equips NASA team members to handle emergencies in orbit and researches the effects of space travel on the human body. The career got its start during the space race of the 1960s and has grown—both in terms of number of people in the field and knowledge base—ever since. Research conducted by medical professionals in the aeronautics field has led to many breakthroughs in disease treatment of earthbound patients and the discipline continually develops new technology to make space medicine more effective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of underwater divers</span> Alphabetical listing of articles about underwater divers

The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to underwater divers:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of underwater divers</span> Hierarchical outline list of biographical articles about underwater divers

This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where the practitioner submerges below the surface of the water or other liquid for a period which may range between seconds to order of a day at a time, either exposed to the ambient pressure or isolated by a pressure resistant suit, to interact with the underwater environment for pleasure, competitive sport, or as a means to reach a work site for profit or in the pursuit of knowledge, and may use no equipment at all, or a wide range of equipment which may include breathing apparatus, environmental protective clothing, aids to vision, communication, propulsion, maneuverability, buoyancy and safety equipment, and tools for the task at hand.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg is an astronaut and Director of Space Technology with the Australian Space Agency. In 2024, she became the first qualified astronaut under the Australian flag and also the first female Australian astronaut. She is a dual Australian and British citizen.

References

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration .

  1. 1 2 "Paul Scully-Power, AM". The Age. 26 January 2004.
  2. ↑ Rancourt, Linda (4 October 1984). "Scully-Power shuttle flight counted down". The Day . pp. 1, 10.
  3. ↑ Debono, Mark (1 July 2013). "Feet on the ground but still flying high". ABC Gippsland.
  4. ↑ "Dr Paul Scully-Power AM, DSM, NSM". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Defence scientist, astronaut to Tenix". The Age. 10 June 2004.
  6. ↑ "Australia Day 2004 Honours List" (PDF). gg.gov.au. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  7. ↑ Eldevik, Tor; Dysthe, Kristian B. (3 July 2001). "Spiral Eddies". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 32 (3): 851. Bibcode:2002JPO....32..851E. doi: 10.1175/1520-0485(2002)032<0851:SE>2.0.CO;2 . ISSN   0022-3670.
  8. 1 2 3 Bilton, Ross (23 April 2016). "Paul Scully-Power: the first Australian, and hipster, in space". The Australian.
  9. 1 2 "SensorConnect Appoints Leading Innovator and Sensor Expert Dr. Paul Scully-Power as Chairman". BusinessWire. 6 March 2007.
  10. 1 2 Collins, Antonette (23 May 2018). "NASA-trained astronaut joins team NSW in bid for Australia's first space agency". ABC News.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Dr Paul Scully-Power". saxton. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  12. ↑ "Dr Paul Scully-Power AM named NSSN Special Envoy for Space & Defence". NSW Smart Sensing Network. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
Academic offices
Preceded by Chancellor of Bond University
1998 –1999		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.