Pamela Melroy

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Pamela Melroy
Pamela Melroy
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on December 8, 1994
(15th NASA Group)
Calls: 3 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		October 11, 2000
Landing of the
last space flight: 		November 7, 2007
Time in space: 38d 20h 04min
retired on July 2009
Space flights

Pamela Ann "Pam" Melroy (born September 17, 1961 in Palo Alto , California , USA ) is a former American astronaut .

education

Since Melroy's father was in the military, she spent her childhood with him, her mother and two brothers in Hawaii , Illinois and Florida . After father David's retirement, the family settled in New York . There Melroy attended the Saint Louis School, a small Catholic elementary school in Pittsford, until 1975, and then the Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester . After graduating in 1979, she studied physics and astronomy at Wellesley College in Massachusetts . In 1983 she completed this training with a bachelor's degree and went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . There she took geo- and planetary sciences and achieved a master's degree in 1984 .

After completing her studies, she began her service in the US Air Force (USAF). In Texas she was trained as a military pilot at Reese Air Force Base and was stationed at the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana for the next six years from 1985 . With machines of the type KC-10 "Extender" she flew troop transports. In December 1989 she was involved in “Operation Just Cause” in Panama, Central America, and from autumn 1990 onwards in the Second Gulf War . In total, she can refer to more than 200 hours on missions on the KC-10 - initially as a co-pilot, later as a commander and finally as an instructor.

In June 1991 Melroy began training at the USAF's Test Pilot School in California . She then worked as a test pilot on the C-17 Combined Test Force, which is also housed on Edwards Air Force Base , on the further development of the troop transport C-17A "Globemaster III" .

Astronaut activity

Melroy has wanted to be an astronaut since she saw the Apollo missions as a young girl . At the time, she thought all space travelers had previously been test pilots. Therefore, she decided to pursue a career in the US Air Force to use it as a stepping stone for a career in space. (Even that was only possible when she was that age, because women were not allowed to become military pilots at the time). After high school, she committed. The USAF then financed her studies. She had never been behind the controls of an airplane when she started her pilot training in Texas. Everything was new to her. In addition, she needed a special permit to fly - because of her petite stature: The 162 centimeter tall Melroy was put on an airplane and had to try it out. Only when it was certain that she could look out the window and operate the pedals at the same time was she given permission.

When she applied for NASA's 14th group of astronauts, Melroy made it to the finals, but was rejected. With the next selection in December 1994, she finally made it. She moved from California to Texas and began her one-year basic shuttle pilot training course in March 1995. Immediately afterwards she was assigned to the support teams. These so-called support crews take on important accompanying measures during a space flight.

Since the spring of 1998 Melroy has been preparing for her maiden flight as an astronaut. When she set off for the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-92 in October 2000 , she was the third female pilot in the history of the space shuttle after Eileen Collins and Susan Still . She assisted Brian Duffy, the mission's commander, and helped him with the rendezvous with the ISS and with the subsequent landing.

Exactly two years after her first space flight, she carried out her second mission. She was the pilot of STS-112 , which brought a large component to the ISS and assembled it in the course of the flight. Since she had been the only newcomer among the seven-person crew on STS-92 and everyone had looked after her very well, she had decided to look after the “newcomers” this time. That is why she was already on hand to advise Piers Sellers , Sandra Magnus and the Russian Fyodor Jurtschichin during flight preparation . She also played an important role in the three exits : She gave her colleagues (Sellers and Wolf) instructions from the cockpit and kept an eye on the schedule.

When the orbiter Columbia crashed in February 2003 , Melroy was a member of the Columbia Reconstruction Team and led the search for the remains of the crew cabin. Before she was set up for her next flight, she worked as a liaison officer in the control center.

Starting in the summer of 2006, Melroy was preparing to lead the STS-120 mission . With the launch on October 23, 2007, she became the second woman to command a shuttle after Eileen Collins . When she docked with the ISS two days later, Melroy and ISS commander Peggy Whitson , two women who were leading a space mission at the same time , welcomed each other for the first time.

Melroy resigned from the US Air Force in February 2007 and from NASA in July 2009.

Private

Melroy has been married since 2006 and has no children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Pamela Melroy  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Veteran astronaut Pam Melroy Leaves NASA. In: Press Release 09-176. NASA, July 24, 2009, accessed July 26, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Melroy, Pamela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melroy, Pamela Ann; Melroy, Pam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH 17th September 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Palo Alto , California