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Leroy Chiao, Ph.D.
NASA Astronaut
PERSONAL DATA:
Born August 28, 1960, in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but considers Danville, California, to be
his hometown. Single. He enjoys flying, basketball, racquetball,
and skiing.
EDUCATION:
Graduated from Monte Vista
High School, Danville, California, in 1978; received a bachelor
of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of
California, Berkeley, in 1983, and a master of science degree and
a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of
California, Santa Barbara, in 1985 and 1987, respectively.
SPECIAL HONORS:
Invited to give
technical seminars on honeycomb material and bonded panels, and
cure modeling of aerospace composite materials, at the Beijing
Institute of Aeronautical Materials, and at the Changsha
Institute of Technology, 5th Department, in the Peoples Republic
of China. Invited contributor to the International Encyclopedia
of Composite Materials. Listed in Who's Who in Science and
Engineering. Recipient of Distinguished Alumni Award from
University of California, Santa Barbara. Keynote Commencement
Speaker for the Departments of Engineering at the University of
California at Berkeley, and at Santa Barbara, in 1996.
EXPERIENCE:
Dr. Chiao graduated in 1987
from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and joined
the Hexcel Corporation in Dublin, California. He worked for
Hexcel until 1989, during which time he was involved in process,
manufacturing, and engineering research on advanced aerospace
materials; worked on a joint NASA-JPL/Hexcel project to develop a
practical, optically correct, precision segment reflector, made
entirely of advanced polymer composite materials, for future
space telescopes; as well as working on cure modeling and finite
element analysis. In January of 1989 Dr. Chiao joined the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California,
where he was involved in processing research for fabrication of
filament-wound and thick-section aerospace composites. Dr. Chiao
also developed and demonstrated a mechanistic cure model for
graphite fiber/epoxy composite material. An instrument-rated
pilot, Dr. Chiao has logged over 2000 flight hours in a variety
of aircraft.
NASA EXPERIENCE:
Selected by NASA in
January 1990, Dr. Chiao became an astronaut in July 1991. He is
qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. His
technical assignments to date include: Space Shuttle flight
software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration
Laboratory (SAIL); crew equipment, Spacelab, Spacehab and
payloads issues for the Astronaut Office Mission Development
Branch; Training and Flight Data File issues; EVA issues for the
EVA Branch. Dr. Chiao also served as Chief of the Astronaut
Office EVA Branch. A veteran of three space flights, he flew as a
mission specialist on STS-65 in 1994, STS-72 in 1996 and STS-92
in 2000. Dr. Chiao has logged a total of 36 days, 12 hours, 36
minutes and 5 seconds in space, including over 26 EVA hours in
four space walks. He currently serves as back-up commander for
ISS Expedition-8, and will serve as ISS Commander on ISS
Expedition-10 scheduled for launch in 2004.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE:
STS-65 Columbia (July 8-23, 1994) launched from and returned to land
at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, setting a new flight
duration record for the Space Shuttle program at that time. The
STS-65 mission flew the second International Microgravity
Laboratory (IML-2). During the 15-day flight the seven-member
crew conducted more than 80 experiments focusing on materials and
life sciences research in microgravity. The STS-65 mission was
accomplished in 236 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.1 million
miles in 353 hours and 55 minutes.
STS-72 Endeavour (January 11-20, 1996) was a 9-day mission
during which the crew retrieved the Space Flyer Unit (launched
from Japan 10-months earlier), and deployed and retrieved the
OAST-Flyer. Dr. Chiao performed two spacewalks designed to
demonstrate tools and hardware, and evaluate techniques to be
used in the assembly of the International Space Station. In
completing this mission, Dr. Chiao logged a total of 214 hours
and 41 seconds in space, including just over 13 EVA hours, and
traveled 3.7 million miles in 142 orbits of the Earth.
STS-92 Discovery (October 11-24, 2000) was launched from
the Kennedy Space Center, Florida and returned to land at Edwards
Air Force Base, California. During the 13-day flight, the seven
member crew attached the Z1 Truss and Pressurized Mating Adapter
3 to the International Space Station using Discovery's robotic
arm and performed four space walks to configure these elements.
This expansion of the ISS opened the door for future assembly
missions and prepared the station for its first resident crew.
Dr. Chiao totaled 13 hours and 16 minutes of EVA time in two
space walks. The STS-92 mission was accomplished in 202 orbits,
traveling 5.3 million miles in 12 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes and
25 seconds.
Source:
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chiao.html
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