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Drew, Benjamin Alvin Jr

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Drew Credit: www.spacefacts.de

Status: Inactive; Active 2000-2013. Born: 1962-11-05. Spaceflights: 2 . Total time in space: 25.54 days. Birth Place: Washington, District of Columbia.

Educated USAFA.

Official NASA Biography as of June 2016:Benjamin Alvin Drew, JR. (Colonel, USAF, Ret.)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA: Born November 5, 1962 in Washington, DC. His parents, Muriel and Benjamin Drew, Sr., reside in Fort Washington, Maryland.

EDUCATION:

• 1980 High School Diploma from Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC.
• 1984 Bachelor of Science in Astronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy.
• 1984 Bachelor of Science in Physics from the United States Air Force Academy.
• 1995 Master of Aerospace Science from Embry Riddle University.
• 2006 Master of Strategic Studies in Political Science from the United States Air Force Air University.

ORGANIZATIONS: Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Helicopter Society.

EXPERIENCE: Upon graduation from the United States Air Force Academy, Drew entered the U.S. Air Force as a Second Lieutenant in May 1984. He completed Undergraduate Helicopter Pilot Training - at Fort Rucker, Alabama, earning a helicopter qualification and his pilot wings in March 1985. His initial assignment was as a combat rescue helicopter pilot from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, he transitioned into USAF special operations. There flew 60 combat missions in operations over Panama (1989), the Persian Gulf (1990-1991) and Northern Iraq (1991-1992). In 1992, he returned to flight training - first obtaining a rating in jet aircraft in April 1993, and then, becoming a test pilot, at the United States Naval Test Pilot School in June 1994. He subsequently worked as a project test pilot, commanded two flight test organizations, and served on the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command staff. As a Command Pilot with more than 25 years experience, Colonel Drew retired from the Air Force in September 2010.

He has more than 3,500 hours flying experience and has piloted 30 different types of aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected as a mission specialist by NASA in July 2000, Drew reported for training in August 2000. Following the completion of 2 years of training and evaluation, he was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch. From January-November 2009, he served as Director of Operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. He has logged more than 612 hours in space on STS-118 in 2007 and STS 133 in 2011.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-118 (August 8 -21, 2007) was the 119th space shuttle flight, the 22nd flight to the station, and the 20th flight for Endeavour. During the mission Endeavour's crew successfully added another truss segment, a new gyroscope and external spare parts platform to the International Space Station. A new system that enables docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station to extend visits to the outpost was activated successfully. A total of four spacewalks (EVAs) were performed by three crewmembers. Endeavour carried some 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station and returned to Earth with some 4,000 pounds of hardware and no longer needed equipment. Traveling 5.3 million miles in space, the STS-118 mission was completed in 12 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 34 seconds.

STS-133 (February 24 - March 9, 2010), was the 39th and final mission for Space Shuttle Discovery. During the 13-day flight, the Discovery crew delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and the fourth Express Logistics Carrier (ELC) to the ISS. The crew also delivered critical spare components including Robonaut 2, or R2, the first human-like robot in space. The mission's two space walks assisted in outfitting the truss of the station and completed a variety of other tasks designed to upgrade station systems. The mission was accomplished in 202 Earth orbits, traveling 5.3 million miles in 307 hours and 3 minutes.

OCTOBER 2013

OFFICIAL NASA BIOGRAPHY

NAME: B. Alvin Drew, Major, USAF, Mission Specialist

BIRTHDATE/PLACE: November 5, 1962 – Washington, DC

RESIDENCE WHEN RECRUITED: Hurlburt Field, FL

EDUCATION: Gonzaga College High School, Washington DC, 1980 B.S., Physics & Astronautical Engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy, 1984; M.S., Aeronautical Science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 1995.

POSITION WHEN RECRUITED: Commander Detachment 1, 46 th Operations Group Eglin AFB, FL

• Birth of Benjamin Alvin Jr Drew - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew. American engineer mission specialist astronaut 2000-2013. 2 spaceflights, 25.5 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-118 (2007), STS-133..

• NASA Astronaut Training Group 18 selected. - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Antonelli, Barratt, Behnken, Boe, Bowen, Drew, Feustel, Ford, Kevin, Garan, Good, Hurley, Kopra, McArthur, Megan, Nyberg, Stott, Virts, Wilmore.

  The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

  Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. Seven pilots and ten mission specialists; 14 men and 3 women.

• STS-118 - . Call Sign: Endeavour. Crew: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Payload: Endeavour F20 / S5, Spacehab. Mass: 121,823 kg (268,573 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Agency: NASA. Program: ISS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: Soyuz TMA-10, STS-117 ISS EO-15, STS-118. Spacecraft Bus: Shuttle. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Duration: 12.75 days. Decay Date: 2007-08-21 . USAF Sat Cat: 32008 . COSPAR: 2007-035A. Apogee: 348 km (216 mi). Perigee: 337 km (209 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.40 min.

  Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on Aug 8 at 2236 UTC. The STS-118 stack comprised Orbiter OV-105, solid rockets RSRM-97 and external tank ET-117. The solid boosters separated 2 min after launch. At 2245 UTC the orbiter main engines cut off and ET-117 separated into an approximately 57 x 225 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The OMS-2 burn at 2313 UTC put Endeavour in a higher 229 x 317 km orbit as the ET fell back to reentry around 2346 UTC.

  During ascent a large chunk of external tank foam was observed to hit the underside of the orbiter. Examination in orbit using the robotic arm showed a hole in a heat shield tile that went down to the felt mounting pad. There was considerable press discussion of the danger, but as the mission drew to a close NASA decided that no lasting damage would be incurred during reentry to the orbiter structure, and called off a potential extra spacewalk to repair the tile.

  Endeavour docked at the PMA-2 adapter on the Station at 18:02 GMT on 10 August; the hatches were opened at 20:04.

  The 14036 kg of cargo broke down as follows:

  • Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System, 1800 kg
  • Bay 1-2: EMU 3010, 130 kg
  • Bay 1-2: EMU 3017, 130 kg
  • Bay 3: Tunnel Adapter, 112 kg
  • Bay 5-7: Spacehab-SM Single Module, 5480 kg: Loaded with research experimental equipment and consumables to be left at the station.
  • Bay 8P: SPDU: Station Power Distribution Unit, will be left at the ISS and allow the Orbiter to draw electricity from the station while docked, allowing longer missions
  • Bay 8-10: S5 Truss, 1584 kg: a short spacer truss installed at the end of the ISS S4 truss during the mission, to eliminate interference with the S6 solar panels when they would be added later
  • Bay 11-12: ESP-3, 3400 kg: External Stowage Platform 3, left at the ISS, provided external storage for spare parts, and was delivered with a spare nitrogen tank for the truss cooling system, a spare truss battery charge/discharge unit (BCDU), a spare Canadarm-2 robot arm pitch roll joint, and a replacement Control Moment Gyro for the Z1 truss
  • Bay 11-12: CMG-3R ORU, 540 kg
  • Sill: OBSS, 450 kg
  • Sill: RMS 201, 410 kg
  The shuttle's RMS 201 robotic arm moved the S5 truss from the payload bay at 20:50 on 10 August. It was handed over to the station's Canadarm-2 robotic arm, which then attached it to the S4 truss at 17:30 on 11 August, with astronauts assisting on the first of four spacewalks of the mission. On 14 August, ESP-3 was unberthed from Endeavour's payload bay and attached to the P3 truss on the Station, where its spare parts can be reached if needed.

  Following successful completion of all cargo delivery and station assembly tasks, the crew returned to Endeavour on 18 August, undocking the next day at 11:56 GMT. Landing was moved up a day ahead of schedule because of concern a hurricane might force evacuation of the Houston Control Center on the originally-planned return date. Endeavour began its deorbit burn at 15:25 GMT on August 21 and lowered its orbit from 336 x 347 km to -28 x 342 km. It landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 16:32 GMT. Landing mass was 100,878 kg.

• Landing of STS-118 - . Return Crew: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: STS-118.

• ISS On-Orbit Status 12/04/07 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Kotov, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-10, Soyuz TMA-11, STS-120 ISS EO-16, STS-122. FE-1 Malenchenko supported the Russian TEKh-20 Plazmennyi-Kristall/PK-3+ (Plasma Crystal-3+) experiment on its fifth day.. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 02/25/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Eyharts, Love, Malenchenko, Whitson. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-122, STS-122 ISS EO-16. Russian Holiday: 'Defender of the Fatherland Day' (Dyen' zaschitnika Otechestva),- also: Men's Day (Dyen' Muzhchin).. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 03/08/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Eyharts, Love, Malenchenko, Simonyi, Whitson. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-10 ISS EP-12, Soyuz TMA-11, STS-122 ISS EO-16. Saturday -- off-duty day for CDR Whitson, FE-1 Malenchenko and FE-2 Eyharts except for housekeeping and voluntary work.. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 03/29/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Love, Malenchenko, Reisman, Whitson, Yi Soyeon. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-123.

  Per his voluntary 'job jar' task list, after wakeup and before breakfast FE-2 Garrett Reisman completed his second session with the SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment's laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 04/20/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Kononenko, Love, Malenchenko, Reisman, Volkov, Sergey. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, Soyuz TMA-12, STS-122, STS-123 ISS EO-16. Ahead: Week 1 of Increment 17 (with CDR Sergei Volkov, FE-1 Oleg Kononenko, FE-2 Garrett Reisman).. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 05/30/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Fossum, Garan, Ham, Hoshide, Kelly, Mark, Kononenko, Nyberg, Reisman, Volkov, Sergey. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-12, STS-123 ISS EO-16, STS-124. FE-2 Reisman conducted 'Week 6' sampling of potable water for chemical and microbial analysis from the SVO-ZV tap and two SRV-K taps, the latter after preliminary heating of the water (four heating cycles) and flushing.. Additional Details: here....

• ISS On-Orbit Status 06/10/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Drew, Ham, Hoshide, Kelly, Mark, Kononenko, Nyberg, Reisman, Volkov, Sergey. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-12, STS-123 ISS EO-16, STS-124. Flight Day 11 (FD11) of STS-124/1J.. Additional Details: here....

• STS-133 - . Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Barratt, Boe, Bowen, Drew, Lindsey, Stott. Payload: Discovery F38 /. Mass: 121,840 kg (268,610 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA. Program: ISS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: Soyuz TMA-01M, Soyuz TMA-20, STS-133. Spacecraft Bus: Shuttle. Spacecraft: Discovery. Duration: 12.80 days. Decay Date: 2011-03-09 . USAF Sat Cat: 37371 . COSPAR: 2011-008A. Apogee: 355 km (220 mi). Perigee: 318 km (197 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.30 min.

  Final flight of the space shuttle Discovery. The spaceplane docked with the International Space Station at 19:14 GMT on 26 February. The ELC-4 Express Logistics Carrier 4 was transferred from the Shuttle to the S3 station truss on 27 February. The station's SSRMS robot arm moved the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module from the shuttle to the nadir port of the Unity module between 13:46 and 15:05 UTC on 1 March. Following cargo unloading and three spacewalks devoted to station repair and assembly, Discovery undocked from the station for the last time at 12:00 GMT on 7 March, landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 16:57 GMT on 9 March.

• EVA STS-133-1 - . Crew: Bowen, Drew. EVA Duration: 0.27 days. Nation: USA. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-01M, Soyuz TMA-20, STS-133. Installed a backup power cable between Unity and Tranquility; moved failed ammonia pump removed in August to Quest airlock; worked on the rail cart system on the S3 truss..

• EVA STS-133-2 - . Crew: Bowen, Drew. EVA Duration: 0.26 days. Nation: USA. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-01M, Soyuz TMA-20, STS-133. Adjusted thermal insulation at various places around the exterior of the ISS and the Dextre robot..