List of Georgia Institute of Technology alumni
Table:
Name

Class year

Notability

References

Eric Boe

1997

NASA astronaut (STS-126, STS-133)

[130]

Michael R. Clifford

1982

NASA astronaut (STS-53, STS-59, STS-76); former US Army lieutenant colonel

[131]

Jan Davis

1975

Retired NASA astronaut (STS-47, STS-60, STS-85); current director of the Safety and Mission Assurance directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center

[132]

James Henry Deese

1935

NASA administrator

[133]

Ben T. Epps

1904

Known as "Georgia's First Aviator"; aviation pioneer; in 1907, he built a monoplane of his own design, now known as the Epps 1907 Monoplane, followed by other original monoplane and biplane designs

[134]

Gabriel Georgiades

1979

Professor of aerospace engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

[135]

L. Blaine Hammond

1974

Retired NASA astronaut (STS-39, STS-64)

[136]

Charlie Hillard

1958

Aerobatics pilot; first American to win the world aerobatics title

[137]

Scott J. Horowitz

1982

Retired NASA astronaut (STS-75, STS-82, STS-101, STS-105)

[138]

Ellis L. Johnson

1960

Coca-Cola Chaired Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech

[139]

Susan Still Kilrain

1985

Retired NASA astronaut (STS-83, STS-94)

[140]

Robert S. Kimbrough

1998

NASA astronaut (STS-127); Among the first candidates selected for astronaut training in the United States following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

[141]

Charles Kohlhase

1957

Worked for forty years at NASA/JPL leading the design of several robotic deep-space planetary missions

[142]

Timothy Kopra

1995

NASA astronaut (STS-127); flight engineer and science officer of the International Space Station ; US Army lieutenant colonel

[143]

Sandra Magnus

1996

NASA astronaut (STS-112, STS-126, STS-119, STS-135); member of the ISS Expedition 18

[144][145]

David D. Marshall

1995

Professor and department chair, Aerospace Engineering, California Polytechnic State University

[146]

William S. McArthur

1983

NASA astronaut (STS-58, STS-74, STS-92); veteran of three Space Shuttle missions; veteran of one mission to the International Space Station via the Russian Soyuz capsule

[147]

Alan G. Poindexter

1986

NASA astronaut (STS-122, STS-131)

[148]

James R. Thompson, Jr.

1958

Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama (1986–1989); NASA's deputy director (1989–1991)

[149]

Based on the accompanying table and the textual context listed below.

Answer the following question: Which person started their class year the fortieth year that a person worked at NASA ? Output only the correct answer as {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Do not introduce information beyond the provided sources.

Eric Allen Boe ( born October 1 , 1964 ) is a United States Air Force fighter pilot Colonel , test pilot , a Civil Air Patrol member , and a NASA astronaut . He flew as the pilot of Space Shuttle missions STS-126 and STS-133 .
STS-126 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour . 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 14 November 2008 at 19:55:39 pm EST from Launch Pad 39A at NASA 's Kennedy Space Center with no delays or issues . Endeavour successfully docked with the station on 16 November . After spending 11 days , 16 hours , and 46 minutes 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 UTC ( 13:25 PST ) .
STS-133 ( ISS assembly flight ULF5 ) was the 133rd mission in NASA 's Space Shuttle program ; during the mission , Space Shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station . It was Discovery 's 39th and final mission . The mission launched on 24 February 2011 , and landed on 9 March 2011 . The crew consisted of six American astronauts , all of whom had been on prior spaceflights , headed by Commander Steven Lindsey . The crew joined the long-duration six person crew of Expedition 26 , who were already aboard the space station . About a month before lift-off , one of the original crew members , Tim Kopra , was injured in a bicycle accident . He was replaced by Stephen Bowen . The mission transported several items to the space station , including the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo , which was left permanently docked to one of the station 's ports . The shuttle also carried the third of four ExPRESS Logistics Carriers to the ISS , as well as a humanoid robot called Robonaut . The mission marked both the 133rd flight of the Space Shuttle program and the 39th and final flight of Discovery , with the orbiter completing a cumulative total of a whole year ( 365 days ) in space . The mission was affected by a series of delays due to technical problems with the external tank and , to a lesser extent , the payload . The launch , initially scheduled for September 2010 , was pushed back to October , then to November , then finally to February 2011 .
Michael Richard Uram Rich Clifford ( born October 13 , 1952 ) , is a former United States Army officer and NASA astronaut . Clifford is considered a Master Army Aviator and has logged over 3,400 hours flying in a wide variety of fixed and rotary winged aircraft . Clifford retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel . He has logged over 12 hours of spacewalk time over three Space Shuttle missions . He is also one of the first people to conduct a spacewalk while docked to an orbiting space station . The spacewalk was conducted during STS-76 , while docked at the Russian space station Mir .
STS-53 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission in support of the United States Department of Defense . The mission was launched on 2 December 1992 from Kennedy Space Center , Florida .
STS-59 was a Space Shuttle program mission that took place in 1994 . The launch was chronicled by the 1994 Discovery Channel special about the Space Shuttle program .
STS-76 was NASA 's 76th Space Shuttle mission , and the 16th mission for Atlantis . STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST ( UTC −5 ) from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B . STS-76 lasted over 9 days , traveled about 3,800,000 miles ( 6,100,000 km ) while orbiting Earth an estimated 145 times , and landing at 5:28 am PST ( UTC −8 ) on 31 March 1996 at Edwards Air Force Base runway 22 . The flight was the third Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir , as part of the Shuttle-Mir Program , carrying astronaut Shannon Lucid to the orbital laboratory to replace NASA astronaut Norm Thagard . STS-76 also carried a SPACEHAB single module along with Lucid , and on flight day 6 Linda Godwin and Michael R. Clifford performed the first U.S. spacewalk around two docked spacecraft .
The United States Army ( USA ) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces . It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services , and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution . As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence , the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army , which was formed ( 14 June 1775 ) to fight the American Revolutionary War ( 1775-1783 ) - before the United States of America was established as a country . After the Revolutionary War , the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army . The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army , and considers its institutional inception to be the origin of that armed force in 1775 . As a uniformed military service , the U.S. Army is part of the Department of the Army , which is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense . The U.S. Army is headed by a civilian senior appointed civil servant , the secretary of the Army ( SECARMY ) and by a chief military officer , the chief of staff of the Army ( CSA ) who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . It is the largest military branch , and in the fiscal year 2017 , the projected end strength for the Regular Army ( USA ) was 476,000 soldiers ; the Army National Guard ( ARNG ) had 343,000 soldiers and the U.S. Army Reserve ( USAR ) had 199,000 soldiers ; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 1,018,000 soldiers . As a branch of the armed forces , the mission of the U.S. Army is to fight and win our Nation 's wars , by providing prompt , sustained land dominance , across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict , in support of combatant commanders . The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States .
In the United States Army , U.S. Marine Corps , and U.S. Air Force , lieutenant colonel is a field-grade military officer rank , just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel . It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services . The pay grade for the rank of lieutenant colonel is O-5 . In the United States armed forces , the insignia for the rank are a silver oak leaf , with slight stylized differences between the version of the Army and the Air Force and that of the Navy and the Marine Corps . Promotion to lieutenant colonel is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act ( DOPMA ) of 1980 , for officers in the Active Component , and its companion Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act ( ROPMA ) , for officers in the Reserve Component ( e.g. , Reserve and National Guard ) . DOPMA guidelines suggest that 70 percent of majors be promoted to lieutenant colonel after serving at least three years at their present rank and after 15-17 years of cumulative commissioned service .
Nancy Jan Davis ( née Smotherman ; born November 1 , 1953 ) is a former American astronaut . A veteran of three space flights , Davis logged over 673 hours in space . She is now retired from NASA .
STS-47 was the 50th Space Shuttle mission of the program , as well as the second mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour . The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and material sciences .
STS-60 was the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program , which carried Sergei K. Krikalev , the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Space Shuttle . The mission used Space Shuttle Discovery , which lifted off from Launch Pad 39A on 3 February 1994 from Kennedy Space Center , Florida . The mission carried the Wake Shield Facility experiment and a SPACEHAB module into orbit , and carried out a live bi-directional audio and downlink link-up with the cosmonauts aboard the Russian space station Mir .
STS-85 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform multiple space science packages . It was launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on 7 August 1997 . A major experiment was the CRISTA-SPAS free-flyer which had various telescopes on board .
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center ( MSFC ) , located in Huntsville , Alabama , is the U.S. government 's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center . As the largest NASA center , MSFC 's first mission was developing the Saturn launch vehicles for the Apollo program . Marshall has been the lead center for the Space Shuttle main propulsion and external tank ; payloads and related crew training ; International Space Station ( ISS ) design and assembly ; computers , networks , and information management ; and the Space Launch System ( SLS ) . Located on the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville , MSFC is named in honor of Army General George Marshall . The center contains the Huntsville Operations Support Center ( HOSC ) , also known as the International Space Station Payload Operations Center . This facility supports ISS launch , payload , and experiment activities at the Kennedy Space Center . The HOSC also monitors rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station when a Marshall Center payload is on board .
James Henry Deese ( September 23 , 1914 - August 11 , 2001 ) was an American NASA manager .
Ben T. Epps ( February 20 , 1888 , Oconee County , Georgia - October 16 , 1937 ) , known as Georgia 's First Aviator was an American aviation pioneer . In 1907 , he built a monoplane of his own design , now known as the Epps 1909 Monoplane . This was followed by other original monoplane and biplane designs in 1909 , 1910 , 1911 , 1912 , 1916 , 1924 and 1930 . He died of injuries as a result of an airplane crash . The Athens-Ben Epps Airport is named in his honor . In 1989 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame .
The Epps 1907 Monoplane was a pioneering aircraft built and flown in 1907 by Ben T. Epps of Athens , Georgia from an original design . The aircraft consisted of an open framework suspended below a wire-braced monoplane wing . The undercarriage consisted of three bicycle wheels , one at the front of this frame , and two behind it . A buggy seat was located beneath the wing for the pilot . A 15-horsepower ( 11 kW ) two-cylinder Anzani motorcycle engine was mounted behind the seat and drove a two-bladed propeller from an exhaust fan mounted pusher-fashion behind the wing 's trailing edge . A biplane elevator unit was carried on struts at the front of the aircraft , and a single rudder on struts to its rear . The airframe was made from scrap timber collected from a sawmill , with the flying surfaces covered in cotton . Only the undersurfaces of the wings were covered . Inspired by the Wright Brothers and pioneering European aviators , Epps first conceived of the design at the age of sixteen . In 1907 , he built the aircraft in the workshop of his bicycle , electrical contracting , and automobile repair business on Washington Street , Athens . In October 1907 , he flew the machine from a cow pasture near Brooklyn Creek . After rolling downhill , Epps took off and flew around 100 yards ( 90 metres ) at a maximum altitude of around 50 feet ( 15 metres ) .
Gabriel Georgiades ( born January 18 , 1957 ) is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at California State Polytechnic University , Pomona . He is a widely published author known throughout the world as one of the leading authorities on light aircraft spin tendencies and recovery along with a major contributor to the creation of the finite element method of analyzing aircraft structures .
California State Polytechnic University , Pomona ( Cal Poly Pomona , CPP , or Cal Poly [ Note 1 ] ) is a public polytechnic university in Pomona , California . It is one of two polytechnic universities in the California State University system . Cal Poly Pomona began as the southern campus of the California Polytechnic School ( today known as Cal Poly San Luis Obispo ) in 1938 when the Voorhis School for Boys and its adjacent farm in the city of San Dimas were donated by Charles Voorhis and his son Jerry Voorhis . Cal Poly 's southern campus grew further in 1949 when the University of California , W.K . Kellogg Institute also known as W.K . Kellogg Institute of Animal Husbandry - University of California , Pomona in the neighboring city of Pomona , which had belonged to Will Keith Kellogg , was acquired from the University of California . Cal Poly Pomona , then known as Cal Poly Kellogg-Voorhis , and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo continued operations under a unified administrative control until they became independent from one another in 1966 . Cal Poly Pomona currently offers bachelor 's degrees in 94 majors , 39 master 's degrees , 13 teaching credentials and a doctorate across 9 distinct academic colleges . The university is one among a small group of polytechnic universities in the United States which tend to be primarily devoted to the instruction of technical arts and applied sciences . Its sports teams are known as the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos and play in the NCAA Division II as part of the California Collegiate Athletic Association ( CCAA ) . The Broncos sponsor 10 varsity sports and have won 14 NCAA national championships . Current and former Cal Poly Pomona athletes have won 7 Olympic medals ( 3 gold , 1 silver , and 3 bronze ) .
Lloyd Blaine Hammond Jr. ( born January 16 , 1952 ) is a Gulfstream test pilot , a former United States Air Force officer , and a former NASA astronaut . He flew on two Space Shuttle missions .
STS-39 was the twelfth mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery . The primary purpose of the mission was to conduct a variety of payload experiments for the Department of Defense .
STS-64 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission that was set to perform multiple experiment packages . STS-64 was launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on 9 September 1994 , and landed back on 20 September 1994 at Edwards Air Force Base .
Charlie Hillard ( March 22 , 1938 - April 16 , 1996 ) was an American aerobatics pilot , and the first American to win the world aerobatics title . Hillard formed the Red Devils aerobatic team in 1971 with fellow pilots Gene Soucy and Tom Poberezny . In 1979 the three re-formed as the Eagles Aerobatic Team , which they would fly as for more than 25 years , setting the record for the longest-running aerobatic team with the same members in the world . In 1996 he was killed at the Sun ' n Fun fly-in in Lakeland , Florida , when the Hawker Sea Fury he was flying overturned after landing in a crosswind .
Aerobatics ( a portmanteau of aerial-acrobatics ) is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight . Aerobatics are performed in airplanes and gliders for training , recreation , entertainment , and sport . Additionally , some helicopters , such as the MBB Bo 105 , are capable of limited aerobatic maneuvers . An example of a fully aerobatic helicopter , capable of performing loops and rolls , is the Westland Lynx . Most aerobatic maneuvers involve rotation of the aircraft about its longitudinal ( roll ) axis or lateral ( pitch ) axis . Other maneuvers , such as a spin , displace the aircraft about its vertical ( yaw ) axis . Maneuvers are often combined to form a complete aerobatic sequence for entertainment or competition . Aerobatic flying requires a broader set of piloting skills and exposes the aircraft to greater structural stress than for normal flight . In some countries , the pilot must wear a parachute when performing aerobatics . Aerobatic training enhances a pilot 's ability to recover from unusual flight conditions , and thus is an element of many flight safety training programs for pilots . While many pilots fly aerobatics for recreation , some choose to fly in aerobatic competitions , a refereed sport .
The FAI World Aerobatic Championships ( WAC ) is a competition in sport aviation organized by CIVA ( Commission Internationale de Voltige Arienne ) , the aerobatic commission of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , the world air sports federation . The WAC was formed in 1960 , replacing the freestyle Lockheed Trophy contests .
Scott Jay Doc Horowitz ( born March 24 , 1957 ) is a retired American astronaut and a veteran of four space shuttle missions .
STS-75 was a United States NASA Space Shuttle mission , the 19th mission of the Columbia orbiter .
STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program . It was NASA 's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope , during which Discovery 's crew repaired and upgraded the telescope 's scientific instruments , increasing its research capabilities and achieved the highest altitude ever attained by a STS Orbiter ( 335-nautical-mile ( 620 km ) ) . Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on 11 February 1997 , returning to Earth on 21 February 1997 at Kennedy Space Center .
STS-101 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis . The mission was a 10-day mission conducted between 19 May 2000 and 29 May 2000 . The mission was designated 2A.2a and was a resupply mission to the International Space Station . STS-101 was delayed 3 times in April due to high winds . STS-101 traveled 4.1 million miles and completed 155 revolutions of the earth and landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center . The mission was the first to fly with the glass cockpit .
STS-105 was a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station , launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , 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 .
Ellis Lane Johnson is the Professor Emeritus and the Coca-Cola Chaired Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta , Georgia .
The H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering is a department in the Georgia Institute of Technology 's College of Engineering dedicated to education and research in industrial engineering . The school is named after H. Milton Stewart , a local philanthropist and successful businessman who formerly graduated from the BSIE undergraduate program . Unlike similar programs at other schools , the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech focuses on core disciplines for both Industrial Engineering ( such as manufacturing and quality control ) and Systems Engineering ( such as global logistics and system optimization ) . US News & World Report consistently ranks the program at number 1 .
Susan Kilrain ( born October 24 , 1961 ) is an engineer , a former United States Navy officer , and a former NASA astronaut .
STS-83 was a mission of the United States Space Shuttle Columbia .
STS-94 was a mission of the United States Space Shuttle Columbia , launched on 1 July 1997 .
Robert Shane Kimbrough ( born June 4 , 1967 ) is a retired United States Army officer , and a 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 two spaceflights , the first being a Space Shuttle flight , and the second being a 6-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 . Married to the former Robbie Lynn Nickels .
STS-127 ( ISS assembly flight 2J/A ) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) . It was the twenty-third flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour . The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module : the Exposed Facility ( JEM EF ) , and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module ( ELM-ES ) . [ NASA 1 ] When Endeavour docked with the ISS on this mission in July 2009 , it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle , the first time thirteen people have been at the station at the same time . It also tied the record of thirteen people in space at any one time . The first launch attempt , on 13 June 2009 , was scrubbed due to a gaseous hydrogen leak observed during tanking . The Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate ( GUCP ) on the external fuel tank experienced a potentially hazardous hydrogen gas leak similar to the fault that delayed the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-119 in March 2009 . Since a launch date of 18 June 2009 would have conflicted with the launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ( LRO ) /Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite ( LCROSS ) , NASA managers discussed the scheduling conflict with both the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project and the Air Force Eastern Range , which provides tracking support for rockets launched from Florida . A decision was made to allow the shuttle to attempt a second launch on 17 June 2009 , allowing LRO to launch on 18 June 2009 . The second launch attempt on 17 June 2009 was also scrubbed due to hydrogen leak issues seen from the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate . Due to conflicts with the launch of the LRO , and due to a beta angle constraint , the next available launch opportunity was scheduled for 11 July 2009 . [ NASA 2 ] A successful tanking test for leak checks was performed on 1 July 2009 , with modified GUCP seals allowing launch preparations to proceed as scheduled .
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a fatal incident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1 , 2003 , when the Space Shuttle Columbia ( OV-102 ) disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere , killing all seven crew members . The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program , after the 1986 breakup of Challenger soon after liftoff . During the launch of STS-107 , Columbia 's 28th mission , a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter . Similar foam shedding had occurred during previous shuttle launches , causing damage that ranged from minor to nearly catastrophic , but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious . Before re-entry , NASA managers had limited the investigation , reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed . When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth , the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure , which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart . After the disaster , Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years , as they had been after the Challenger disaster . Construction of the International Space Station ( ISS ) was put on hold ; the station relied entirely on the Russian Roscosmos State Space Corporation for resupply for 29 months until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation until STS-121 . NASA ultimately made several technical and organizational changes , including adding a thorough on-orbit inspection to determine how well the shuttle 's thermal protection system had endured the ascent , and keeping a designated rescue mission ready in case irreparable damage was found . Except for one final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope , subsequent shuttle missions were flown only to the ISS so that the crew could use it as a haven if damage to the orbiter prevented safe reentry .
Charles Kohlhase ( born 1935 ) worked for forty years at NASA/JPL leading the design of several robotic deep-space planetary missions . He is also an author , game developer and lecturer .
Timothy Lennart Tim Kopra ( born April 9 , 1963 ) is an 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 .
Sandra Hall Magnus ( born October 30 , 1964 ) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut . She returned to Earth with the crew of STS-119 Discovery on March 28 , 2009 , after having spent 134 days in orbit . She was assigned to the crew of STS-135 , the final mission of the Space Shuttle . She is also a licensed amateur radio operator with the call sign KE5FYE . From 2012 until 2018 Magnus was the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics .
STS-112 ( ISS assembly flight 9A ) was an 11-day Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis . Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched on 7 October 2002 at 19:45 UTC from the Kennedy Space Center 's launch pad 39B to deliver the 28,000 pound Starboard 1 ( S1 ) truss segment to the Space Station . Ending a 4.5-million-mile journey , Atlantis landed at 15:44 UTC on 18 October 2002 on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center 's Shuttle Landing Facility . During the launch , the ET bipod ramp shed a chunk of foam that caused a dent ~4 wide and 3 deep into the metal SRB-ET Attach Ring near the bottom of the left Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster . Prior to the next mission ( STS-113 ) , an upper-level decision was made at NASA to continue with launches as scheduled . The launch subsequent to that was the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster , the ill-fated STS-107 . Space Shuttle Atlantis had been scheduled to visit the International Space Station ( ISS ) again on STS-114 mission in March 2003 ; however , due to the loss of Columbia , all Space Shuttles , including Atlantis , were temporarily grounded . Due to rescheduling of missions , Atlantis did not fly again until STS-115 on 9 September 2006 .
STS-119 ( ISS assembly flight 15A ) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) which was flown by Template : OV-103 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 15 March 2009 , at 19:43 EDT . Discovery successfully landed on 28 March 2009 , at 15:13 pm EDT .
STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7 ) 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 8 July 2011 , and landed on 21 July 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 . Although the mission was authorized , it initially had no appropriation in the NASA budget , raising questions about whether the mission would fly . On 20 January 2011 , program managers changed STS-335 to STS-135 on the flight manifest . This allowed for training and other mission specific preparations . On 13 February 2011 , program managers told their workforce that STS-135 would fly regardless of the funding situation via a continuing resolution . Until this point , there had been no official references to the STS-135 mission in NASA documentation for the general public . During an address at the Marshall Space Flight Center on 16 November 2010 , NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that the agency needed to fly STS-135 to the station in 2011 due to possible delays in the development of commercial rockets and spacecraft designed to transport cargo to the ISS .
The International Space Station ( ISS ) is a space station ( habitable artificial satellite ) in low Earth orbit . The ISS programme is a joint project between five participating space agencies : NASA ( United States ) , Roscosmos ( Russia ) , JAXA ( Japan ) , ESA ( Europe ) , and CSA ( Canada ) . The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements . The ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology , human biology , physics , astronomy , meteorology , and other fields . The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars . The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres ( 250 mi ) by means of reboost manoeuvres using the engines of the Zvezda module or visiting spacecraft . It circles the Earth in roughly 92 minutes and completes 15.5 orbits per day . The station is divided into two sections , the Russian Orbital Segment ( ROS ) , which is operated by Russia , and the United States Orbital Segment ( USOS ) , which is shared by many nations . Roscosmos has endorsed the continued operation of ISS through 2024 , but had previously proposed using elements of the Russian segment to construct a new Russian space station called OPSEK . As of December 2018 [ update ] , the station is expected to operate until 2030 . The first ISS component was launched in 1998 , with the first long-term residents arriving on 2 November 2000 . Since then , the station has been continuously occupied for 19 years and 109 days .
Expedition 18 was the 18th permanent crew of the International Space Station ( ISS ) . The first two crew members , Michael Fincke , and Yuri Lonchakov were launched on 12 October 2008 , aboard Soyuz TMA-13 . With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus , who joined the Expedition 18 crew after launching on STS-126 and remained until departing on STS-119 on 25 March 2009 . She was replaced by JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata , who arrived at the ISS on STS-119 on 17 March 2009 . Gregory Chamitoff , who joined Expedition 18 after Expedition 17 left the station , ended his stay aboard ISS and returned to Earth with the STS-126 crew .
California Polytechnic State University ( California Polytechnic State University , San Luis Obispo , Cal Poly San Luis Obispo , or Cal Poly ) is a public university in San Luis Obispo , California . It is one of two polytechnics in the California State University system . The university is organized into six colleges offering 65 bachelor 's and 39 master 's degrees . Cal Poly San Luis Obispo primarily focuses on undergraduate education and as of fall 2018 Cal Poly has 21,037 undergraduate and 775 graduate students . The academic focus is fostering a comprehensive undergraduate education , combining technical and professional curricula with the arts and humanities . The university is located in San Luis Obispo , California , often noted as one of the happiest cities in the United States , with many alumni in Silicon Valley . The university 's athletic teams participate in the Big West Conference .
William Surles McArthur Jr. ( born July 26 , 1951 ) is a retired United States Army colonel and NASA astronaut and a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one expedition to the International Space Station via the Russian Soyuz capsule .
STS-58 was a mission flown by Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on 18 October 1993 . The missions was primarily devoted to experiments concerning the physiological effects of spaceflight . This was the first in-flight use of the Portable In-flight Landing Operations Trainer simulation software . It was also the last time Columbia would land at Edwards Air Force Base .
STS-74 was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program , and the second docking of the Space Shuttle with Mir . Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on 12 November 1995 . The mission ended 8 days later with the landing of Atlantis back at Kennedy . It was the second in a series of seven straight missions to the station flown by Atlantis . The shuttle delivered a pair of solar arrays along with the Russian-built Mir Docking Module to allow docking with the station by the space shuttle without moving Mir 's Kristall module . During the three-day docking , the Russian , Canadian , and American crew transferred supplies and equipment between Atlantis and Mir , moved several long-term experiments , and upgraded the station with new equipment , particularly during the installation of the docking module .
STS-92 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery . STS-92 marked the 100th mission of the Space Shuttle . It was launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , 11 October 2000 .
The Space Shuttle is a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system that was operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) as part of the Space Shuttle program . Its official program name was Space Transportation System ( STS ) , taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development . The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 , leading to operational flights beginning in 1982 . In addition to the prototype whose completion was cancelled , five complete Shuttle systems were built and used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011 , launched from the Kennedy Space Center ( KSC ) in Florida . Operational missions launched numerous satellites , interplanetary probes , and the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) ; conducted science experiments in orbit ; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station . The Shuttle fleet 's total mission time was 1322 days , 19 hours , 21 minutes and 23 seconds . Shuttle components include the Orbiter Vehicle ( OV ) with three clustered Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines , a pair of recoverable solid rocket boosters ( SRBs ) , and the expendable external tank ( ET ) containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen . The Space Shuttle was launched vertically , like a conventional rocket , with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the OV 's three main engines , which were fueled from the ET . The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit , and the ET was jettisoned just before orbit insertion , which used the orbiter 's two Orbital Maneuvering System ( OMS ) engines . At the conclusion of the mission , the orbiter fired its OMS to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere . The orbiter then glided as a spaceplane to a runway landing , usually to the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center , Florida or Rogers Dry Lake in Edwards Air Force Base , California . After landing at Edwards , the orbiter was flown back to the KSC on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft , a specially modified Boeing 747 .
Russia ( Russian : Росси́я , tr . Rossiya , IPA : [ rɐˈsʲijə ] ) , or the Russian Federation , [ e ] is a European country located in Eastern Europe with a vast expanse of territory that stretches across Northern Asia . At 17,125,200 square kilometres ( 6,612,100 sq mi ) , it is by far the largest country in the world by area , covering more than one-eighth of the Earth 's inhabited land area , spanning eleven time zones , and bordering 16 sovereign nations . The territory of Russia extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east , and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caucasus in the south . With 146.7 million inhabitants living in the country 's 85 federal subjects as of 2020 , Russia is the most populous nation in Europe and the ninth-most populous nation in the world . Russia 's capital and largest city is Moscow ; other major urban areas include Saint Petersburg , Novosibirsk , Yekaterinburg , Nizhny Novgorod , Kazan and Chelyabinsk . The East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD . Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants , the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century . In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire , beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium . Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states , until it was finally reunified by the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th century . By the 18th century , the nation had greatly expanded through conquest , annexation , and exploration to become the Russian Empire , which was the third largest empire in history , stretching from Poland on the west to Alaska on the east . Following the Russian Revolution , the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( Russian SFSR ) became the largest and leading constituent of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR/Soviet Union ) , the world 's first constitutionally socialist state .
Soyuz ( Russian : Сою́з , IPA : [ sɐˈjus ] , lit . 'Union ' ) is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau ( now RKK Energia ) in the 1960s that remains in service today , having made more than 140 flights . The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs . The Soyuz spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz rocket , the most reliable launch vehicle in the world to date . The Soyuz rocket design is based on the Vostok launcher , which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7A Semyorka , a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile . All Soyuz spacecraft are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan . Soyuz has served as the only means for Americans to make crewed space flights in the world since the retirement of the US Space Shuttle in 2011 and is heavily used in the International Space Station program .
Alan Goodwin Dex Poindexter ( November 5 , 1961 - July 1 , 2012 ) 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-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) , flown by the Space Shuttle Atlantis . STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS , and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall . The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the ISS program . The primary objective of STS-122 was to deliver the European Columbus science laboratory , built by the European Space Agency ( ESA ) , to the station . It also returned Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani to Earth . Tani was replaced on Expedition 16 by Léopold Eyharts , a French Flight Engineer representing ESA . After Atlantis landing , the orbiter was prepared for STS-125 , the final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope . The original target launch date for STS-122 was 6 December 2007 , but due to engine cutoff sensor ( ECO ) reading errors , the launch was postponed to 9 December 2007 . During the second launch attempt , the sensors failed again , and the launch was halted . A tanking test on 18 December 2007 revealed the probable cause to lie with a connector between the external tank and the shuttle . The connector was replaced and the shuttle launched during the third attempt on 7 February 2008 .
STS-131 ( ISS assembly flight 19A ) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station ( ISS ) . Space Shuttle Discovery launched on 5 April 2010 at 6:21 am from LC-39A , and landed at 9:08 am on 20 April 2010 on runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center 's Shuttle Landing Facility . The mission marked the longest flight for Space Shuttle Discovery . The primary payload was a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module loaded with supplies and equipment for the International Space Station . The mission also removed and replaced an ammonia tank assembly outside the station on the S1 truss . STS-131 furthermore carried several on-board payloads ; this mission had the most payloads since STS-107 . It is also the last shuttle mission with a crew of 7 .
James Robert Thompson Jr. ( March 6 , 1936 - November 7 , 2017 ) , known as J.R. Thompson , was the fifth director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center located in Huntsville , Alabama . He served as director from September 29 , 1986 , to July 6 , 1989 . Thompson also served as NASA 's deputy director from July 6 , 1989 , to November 8 , 1991 .
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA , /ˈnæsə/ ) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program , as well as aeronautics and aerospace research . [ note 1 ] NASA was established in 1958 , succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ) . The new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation , encouraging peaceful applications in space science . Since its establishment , most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA , including the Apollo Moon landing missions , the Skylab space station , and later the Space Shuttle . NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle , the Space Launch System and Commercial Crew vehicles . The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for uncrewed NASA launches . NASA science is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System ; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate 's Heliophysics Research Program ; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft missions such as New Horizons ; and researching astrophysics topics , such as the Big Bang , through the Great Observatories and associated programs .
Huntsville is a city in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama . It is the county seat of Madison County but extends west into neighboring Limestone County and south into Morgan County . It was founded in 1805 and became an incorporated town in 1811 . The city grew across nearby hills north of the Tennessee River , adding textile mills , then munitions factories , NASA 's Marshall Space Flight Center and the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command nearby at the Redstone Arsenal . The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Huntsville to its America 's Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010 list . The city 's population was 180,105 in 2010 , making it Alabama 's fourth-largest city . Huntsville is the largest city in the five-county Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville , AL Combined Statistical Area . The Huntsville metropolitan area 's population was 417,593 in 2010 , making it the second most populous metropolitan area in the state . The Huntsville metro 's population reached 462,693 by 2018 .
Joe F. Thompson is an American aerospace engineer . Thompson is the William L. Giles Distinguished Professor at the Mississippi State University and Director , DoD Programming Environment & Training Center . He is known for his contributions to the fields of computational fluid dynamics , especially in the area of grid generation . He , with Z. U . A. Warsi and C. Wayne Mastin , wrote the classic book on grid generation titled Numerical Grid Generation : Foundations and Applications .
Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft . It has two major and overlapping branches : aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering . Avionics engineering is similar , but deals with the electronics side of aerospace engineering . Aeronautical engineering was the original term for the field . As flight technology advanced to include vehicles operating in outer space , the broader term aerospace engineering has come into common use . Aerospace engineering , particularly the astronautics branch , is often colloquially referred to as rocket science .
Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science , commonly known as Mississippi State University ( MSU ) , is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville , Mississippi . It is classified among R1 : Doctoral Universities - Very High Research Activity and has a total research and development budget of $ 239.4 million , the largest in Mississippi . The university was chartered as Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College on February 28 , 1878 and admitted its first students in 1880 . Organized into 12 colleges and schools , the university offers over 180 baccalaureate , graduate , and professional degree programs , and is home to Mississippi 's only accredited programs in architecture and veterinary medicine . Mississippi State participates in the National Sea Grant College Program and National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program . The university 's main campus in Starkville is supplemented by auxiliary campuses in Meridian , Biloxi , and Vicksburg . The 19th and current president of Mississippi State is Mark E. Keenum , a former United States Under Secretary of Agriculture . Mississippi State 's intercollegiate sports teams , the Mississippi State Bulldogs , compete in NCAA Division I athletics as members of the Southeastern Conference 's western division . Mississippi State was a founding member of the SEC in 1932 . In their more-than 120-year history , the Bulldogs have won 21 individual national championships and 30 regular season conference championships . The school is noted for a pervasive baseball fan culture , with Dudy Noble Field holding 17 of the top 25 all-time NCAA attendance records and the school 's Left Field Lounge being described as an epicenter of college baseball .
Computational fluid dynamics ( CFD ) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows . Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate the free-stream flow of the fluid , and the interaction of the fluid ( liquids and gases ) with surfaces defined by boundary conditions . With high-speed supercomputers , better solutions can be achieved , and are often required to solve the largest and most complex problems . Ongoing research yields software that improves the accuracy and speed of complex simulation scenarios such as transonic or turbulent flows . Initial validation of such software is typically performed using experimental apparatus such as wind tunnels . In addition , previously performed analytical or empirical analysis of a particular problem can be used for comparison . A final validation is often performed using full-scale testing , such as flight tests . CFD is applied to a wide range of research and engineering problems in many fields of study and industries , including aerodynamics and aerospace analysis , weather simulation , natural science and environmental engineering , industrial system design and analysis , biological engineering and fluid flows , and engine and combustion analysis .