page_title: Christopher Cassidy
section_title: STS-127
hierarchical_section_title: Christopher Cassidy / NASA career / STS-127
caption_attribution_description: English: NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 flight engineer, uses a digital still camera during a session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as work continues on the International Space Station. A little more than one hour into the spacewalk, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano (out of frame) reported water floating behind his head inside his helmet. The water was not an immediate health hazard for Parmitano, but Mission Control decided to end the spacewalk early.
context_page_description: Christopher John "Chris" Cassidy is a NASA astronaut and United States Navy SEAL. Chris Cassidy achieved the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy. He was the Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA from July 2015 until June 2017.
  Cassidy attended York High School, in York, Maine. He then graduated from the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1989. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics at the United States Naval Academy in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in ocean engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. While in the navy, Cassidy passed BUD/S and became a Navy SEAL. While a SEAL, he served several tours of duty supporting the fight in the War on Terror. His first spaceflight was on Space Shuttle mission STS-127, and his second was as a flight engineer for Expedition 35/36, launched aboard Soyuz TMA-08M. He was in space from July 15 to July 31, 2009, and from March 28 to September 10, 2013. Cassidy has worked as a CAPCOM for both International Space Station and Space Shuttle missions in the past. Cassidy is currently serving aboard the ISS as Commander of Expedition 63.
context_section_description: In February 2008 Cassidy was assigned to his first spaceflight as a Mission Specialist on STS-127, a Space Shuttle mission to deliver the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EF) to the ISS aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour.
  Cassidy and his six fellow crew members lifted off aboard Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center on 15 July 2009. The seven astronauts docked with the ISS on 17 July, joining the six person Expedition 20 crew commanded by Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. This marked the first time 13 people had been in space together, a record that has not been surpassed since. On 22 July 2009, Cassidy stepped outside the ISS alongside NASA astronaut David Wolf for his first spacewalk. The two began work replacing batteries on the P6 Truss and continued work on installing the JEM-EF. The EVA was called off after 5 hours and 59 minutes due to excess amounts of carbon dioxide in Cassidy's suit.
  Over the course of STS-127, Cassidy participated in two more spacewalks alongside NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn. The two completed replacing the batteries on the P6 truss and completed the installation of the JEM-EF over the two excursions lasting 7 hours and 12 minutes and 4 hours and 57 minutes, respectively. Cassidy's third spacewalk marked the completion of the Japanese Experiment Module, a feat that had taken three space shuttle missions starting with STS-123.
  On 31 July 2009, Cassidy returned to the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, wrapping up his first spaceflight after 15 days in space.
caption: Cassidy's space selfie.
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