Anne McClain
| Anne McClain | |
|---|---|
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| Country: |
 United States
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| Organization: |
 NASA
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| selected on | June 17, 2013 ( 21st NASA Group ) |
| Calls: | 1 space flight |
| Begin: | 3rd December 2018 |
| Landing: | June 25, 2019 |
| Time in space: | 203d 15h 17min |
| EVA inserts: | 2 |
| EVA total duration: | 13h 08min |
| Space flights | |
Anne Charlotte McClain (born June 7, 1979 in Spokane , Washington ) is an American military pilot, astronaut and former national rugby player .
Life
McClain grew up in Spokane, Washington state . She studied mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering at the US Military Academy at West Point until 2002 and earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Bath University in 2004 and a master's in international relations from Bristol University in 2005 . She was a member of the United States' national rugby union team from 2004 to 2006 and 2010 to 2012 .
McClain is a member of the US Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel , pilot and flight instructor with more than 2000 hours of flight time on 20 different types of aircraft. In the Iraq war she flew 216 combat missions.
Astronaut activity
McClain was selected to be a member of NASA Astronaut Group 21 on June 17, 2013. In July 2015, she completed her astronaut training.
On December 3, 2018, McClain flew to the ISS with the Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and the Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques on board the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft . Upon their arrival, the station's three-month understaffing ended with only three people after the previous Soyuz MS-10 feeder flight was canceled due to a missile defect at an altitude of 50 kilometers. McClain worked as a flight engineer on ISS Expeditions 58 and 59 . (“Flight engineer” is the standard functional designation of all ISS expedition members with the exception of the commanders.) In addition to maintenance tasks at the station and public relations work, she - like all expedition participants - was also entrusted with the supervision of numerous experiments.
On March 3, 2019, Kononenko, McClain and Saint-Jacques received SpX-DM1 , SpaceX's first Crew Dragon spacecraft docked on the ISS . It was also the first flight of a US spaceship intended for manned missions since the last space shuttle flight in 2011. In addition to supplies, the anthropomorphic test device “ Ripley ” and the plush figure “Little Earth” were on board . The live broadcast of McClain's welcome address gave all three a lot of attention; “Little Earth” was then sold out for a few months.
During her stay at the ISS, Anne McClain completed two spacecraft missions of around six and a half hours each: On March 22, 2019, she performed maintenance work on the station's power supply system with Nick Hague , and on April 8, 2019, with David Saint-Jacques on the power supply to the robotic arm Canadarm2 . Actually, another field assignment with Christina Hammock Koch was planned for March 29th, but McClain was represented by Hague because there was no second space suit top in size "medium" available. After the US media had previously reported on the planned first all-female spacewalk (for example: “exclusively female spacewalk”), this lapse led to a public sexism debate in relation to NASA spacesuits. McClain said in live interviews that she only decided on the size "medium" after her first outdoor assignment. Instead of postponing the second mission until a second “medium” upper part in the station's warehouse had been prepared, she decided to let Hague go first.
After 204 days in space, McClain, Kononenko and Saint-Jaques returned aboard Soyuz MS-11 on June 25, 2019.
Private
McClain has been married to Summer Worden, a former US Air Force intelligence officer, since 2014 . The couple has been in divorce proceedings since 2018 and lives separately. After the space flight, Worden accused McClain of identity theft because she used online banking to check her wife's bank account while on the ISS . McClain's attorney said she denied wrongdoing. She only did the same thing as during her entire relationship, namely checked with the knowledge of her wife whether everything was in order with the - still interwoven - joint finances. The accusation outed McClain as a lesbian, making her the second known LGBT astronaut after Sally Ride . McClain denied Worden's accusations. On April 7, 2020, McClain was exonerated of all allegations by investigation results. Worden is facing two counts of false testimony.
McClain cites weightlifting, rugby, golf, cycling, crossfit and running as hobbies .
Web links
- Anne McClain on the NASA website - biography, pictures and videos (English; PDF)
- spacefacts.de: Short biography
Individual evidence
- ↑ Melanie Whiting: Anne C. McClain (Col, US Army) NASA astronaut. NASA, February 14, 2016, accessed December 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Jason Roberts: 2013 Astronaut Class. NASA, March 10, 2015, accessed December 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Antonia Jaramillo: 'Little Earth' is sold out: How the plush toy stole the show in SpaceX Crew Dragon mission. In: Floriday Today. March 6, 2019, accessed August 24, 2019 .
- ↑ All-Female Spacewalk Was Canceled on 'My Recommendation,' Astronaut Anne McClain Says. In: space.com. April 2, 2019, accessed August 24, 2019 .
- ↑ CBS: NASA responds to backlash over cancellation of first all-female spacewalk on YouTube , March 27, 2019.
- ↑ Live coverage on NASA TV
- ↑ Mike Baker: How a Bitter Divorce Battle on Earth Led to Claims of a Crime in Space. The New York Times, August 23, 2019, accessed August 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Army astronaut accused of committing crime in space is cleared; ex-wife charged with making false statements
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McClain, Anne |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McClain, Anne Charlotte (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronaut |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 7, 1979 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Spokane , Washington |