Ronald A. Parise

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Ronald Parise
Ronald Parise
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on June 20, 1984
( ASTRO-1 )
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight:
2nd December 1990
Landing of the
last space flight:
March 18, 1995
Time in space: 25d 14h 13min
retired on March 18, 1995
Space flights

Ronald Anthony Parise (born May 24, 1951 in Warren , Ohio , USA ; †  May 9, 2008 in Silver Spring , Maryland , USA) was an American astronomer. In 1990 and 1995 he took part in space flights of the Space Shuttle as a payload specialist, but was not a professional astronaut for NASA.

Life

Parise received a bachelor's degree in physics from Youngstown State University in 1973 . In 1977 he received a Masters and in 1979 a PhD in astronomy from the University of Florida .

In 1979 Parise joined Operations Research Inc. (ORI), where he was already involved in projects for NASA. In 1980 he started at Computer Sciences Corporation , where he worked in the program for the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) space telescope . In 1981 he began developing a new Spacelab experiment called the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT).

Parise has been involved in numerous astronomical research projects based on data from Earth observatories and the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 3 (Copernikus), International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and the ASTRO observatory. His research focuses on interstellar matter in binary star systems and the development status of stars in globular clusters have been published in numerous articles.

Astronaut activity

In 1984, Parise was selected by NASA as the payload specialist for the new ASTRO missions. At NASA he helped develop and evaluate the results of these missions. He was also involved in planning missions to the Mir space station , the International Space Station and the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle.

STS-61-E

Parise should have started the ASTRO-1 mission on the Columbia space shuttle in March 1986. After the Challenger disaster , the STS-61-E mission was canceled and later flown as STS-35.

STS-71-A

The STS-71-A mission with the space shuttle Atlantis should have brought the ASTRO-2 Spacelab mission into space on January 12, 1987. The flight was canceled after the Challenger disaster. The team would have consisted of Jon McBride , Richard Richards , David Leestma, Jeffrey Hoffman , Robert Parker , payload specialist Kenneth Nordsieck and one of the two other payload specialists Samuel Durrance and Ronald Parise. The mission was later flown as the STS-35.

STS-71-M

This STS-71-M mission with the Challenger space shuttle should have brought the ASTRO-3 Spacelab mission into space on August 18, 1987. The flight was canceled after the Challenger disaster. The team also included payload specialist Kenneth Nordsieck and one of the two other payload specialists Samuel Durrance and Ronald Parise. The mission was later no longer flown.

STS-35

On December 2, 1990, Parise started as a payload specialist on the Columbia space shuttle . On this flight there were take-off delays, so that for the first time in history two space shuttles faced each other on the launch pad ready for take-off. The main objective of the mission was astronomical observations with the devices of the ASTRO-1 platform in the range of UV and X-rays. There were some technical problems during the mission, for example the displays for aligning the ASTRO-1 telescopes did not work. The telescopes therefore had to be controlled from Earth. The scientific goals could still be achieved to about 70 percent.

STS-67

On its second space mission, Parise flew into space on March 2, 1995 as a payload specialist with the space shuttle Endeavor . It was the astro-observatory's second flight with three ultra-violet telescopes on board. The flight lasted over 16 days and ended with landing on March 18, 1995 at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

After the space flights

After his space flights, he worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center .

death

Ronald Parise died on May 9, 2008 of a brain tumor . He left behind his wife and two children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Ronald A. Parise  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files