Steven Glenwood MacLean

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Steve MacLean
Steve MacLean
Country: Canada
Organization: CSA
selected on December 5, 1983
(1st CSA group)
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		2nd October 1992
Landing of the
last space flight: 		September 21, 2006
Time in space: 21d 16h 03min
EVA inserts: 1
EVA total duration: 7h 11min
retired on September 1, 2008
Space flights

Steven Glenwood "Steve" MacLean (born December 14, 1954 in Ottawa , Ontario , Canada ) is a Canadian astronaut .

MacLean was born in the Canadian capital Ottawa. There he attended Merivale High School after elementary school and then went to Toronto (Ontario) and studied at York University . In addition to studying physics (York has the most extensive range of courses in this subject in the country), he headed the university's sports activities for two years from 1974. He was also a member of the Canadian national gymnastics team in 1976 and 1977 . However, he did not neglect learning and passed his Bachelor examination with distinction in 1977 .

With the support of several scholarships, MacLean continued his physics studies at York University. He was so good that he often taught himself between 1980 and 1983. After receiving a PhD in laser physics in 1983 , he received another grant from the Canadian Research Council. With this he went to the USA . He became a visiting scientist at Stanford University in California and worked under the direction of Nobel Prize winner Professor Schawlow on laser-generated crystal fluorescence and laser spectroscopy .

Astronaut activity

MacLean began its first foundation course for payload experts in February 1984. In December 1985 he was set up together with Bjarni Tryggvason as a substitute for a mission on the shuttle ( STS-71-F with the space shuttle Columbia). This "Canex-2" mission was planned for March 1987, but was canceled due to the Challenger disaster . MacLean and Tryggvason had started training in January 1986 when all flight preparations for further shuttle flights were suspended in February.

Between 1988 and 1991 MacLean was the astronauts contact for the Canadian STEAR program (Strategic TEchnologies in Automation & Robotics). Launched in 1987 as a research project for Canada's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), the aim was to make STEAR technology, which was developed for use in orbit, usable for use on Earth and vice versa.

Then MacLean resumed training as a payload specialist with Bjarni Tryggvason . His maiden flight aboard the Columbia with STS-52 took place in late October 1992. He supervised a number of research projects that were summarized under the designation CANEX-2 (CANadian EXperiments). One of these was the Advanced Space Vision System Experiment (ASVS), which MacLean had been working on for five years and which was being tested in practice for the first time. The ASVS results were incorporated into the development of the Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm for the ISS.

After his space flight, MacLean took a teaching position at the University of Toronto and was a professor at the Institute for Aerospace Studies for three years. In addition, he worked for customers from industry and business as a scientific consultant on ISS matters. In April 1994 he was appointed head of the astronaut team at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA ).

Together with his colleague Julie Payette , who had been elected to the Canadian astronaut squad four years earlier , MacLean took part in training to become a mission specialist in August 1996 at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) . After the two-year course, he stayed at the JSC and worked in various areas for the astronauts office: in the robotics department, as CapCom or as a member of the support teams (for example, he looked after the family members of Ilan Ramon during STS-107 ).

In February 2002, MacLean was hired as a mission specialist for STS-115 , a flight to the International Space Station (ISS) originally scheduled for 2003. Caused by the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, all flights were initially suspended. STS-115 finally took off for the ISS with a three-year delay on September 9, 2006 and docked two days later. The crew of the Atlantis assembled the 16-tonne P3 / P4 element in six days . The space station thus received the second of four solar modules. During that flight, MacLean performed a space exit. Together with Dan Burbank , he prepared the two solar cell surfaces for their work in seven hours by removing the protective covering and transport fastenings. The mission ended after twelve days.

management

On September 1, 2008, MacLean was named President of the Canadian Space Agency, CSA . In January 2013, he announced that he would be stepping down to work in a quantum physics company founded by Mike Lazaridis .

Private

Steve MacLean and his wife have three children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Steven MacLean  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Steve MacLean Announces Plans to Leave the Canadian Space Agency. Canadian Space Agency, January 15, 2013, accessed February 1, 2013 .
personal data
SURNAME MacLean, Steven Glenwood
ALTERNATIVE NAMES MacLean, Steve (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Ottawa , Ontario , Canada