Mastracchio Credit: www.spacefacts.de |
Status: Inactive; active 1996-2015. Born: 1960-02-11. Spaceflights: 4 . Total time in space: 227.57 days. Birth Place: Waterbury, Connecticut.
Educated Connecticut; Rensselaer; Houston-Clear Lake.
Official NASA Biography as of June 2016:Rick Mastracchio
NASA Astronaut
PERSONAL DATA: Born February 11, 1960, in Waterbury, Connecticut.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Crosby High School, Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1978; received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from the University of Connecticut in 1982, a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1987, and a Master of Science Degree in Physical Science from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1991.
EXPERIENCE: Rick Mastracchio worked for Hamilton Standard in Connecticut as an engineer in the system design group from 1982 until 1987. During that time, he participated in the development of high performance, strapped-down inertial measurement units and flight control computers.
NASA EXPERIENCE: In 1987, Mastracchio moved to Houston, Texas, to work for the Rockwell Shuttle Operations Company at the Johnson Space Center. In 1990, he joined NASA as an engineer in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. His duties included the development of space shuttle flight software requirements, the verification of space shuttle flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, and the development of ascent and abort crew procedures for the Astronaut Office.
From 1993 to 1996, he worked as an ascent/entry Guidance and Procedures Officer (GPO) in Mission Control. During that time, he supported seventeen missions as a Flight Controller. In April 1996, Mastracchio was selected as an Astronaut Candidate and started training in August 1996. Mastracchio has worked technical issues for the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, Space Station Operations, the EVA Branch and as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM). He served as the display design lead for the space shuttle cockpit avionics upgrades in 2003. From 2004 to 2009, he worked various Constellation and Orion tasks including Cockpit Design Lead, and Constellation Deputy Branch Chief.
In April 1996, Mastracchio was selected as an Astronaut Candidate and started training in August 1996. Mastracchio has worked technical issues for the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch, Space Station Operations, the EVA Branch and as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM). He served as the display design lead for the space shuttle cockpit avionics upgrades in 2003. From 2004 until 2009, he has worked various Constellation and Orion tasks including Cockpit Design Lead, and Constellation Deputy Branch Chief.
A veteran of four spaceflights, Mastracchio flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-106 on Atlantis, STS-118 on Endeavor, STS-131 on Discovery and a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. As of 2014, Mastracchio now has logged 228 days in space spanning four missions, including nine spacewalks totaling 53 hours.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: During the 12-day STS-106 Atlantis mission, the crew successfully prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. The five astronauts and two cosmonauts delivered more than 6,600 pounds of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, a toilet and a treadmill on the space station. Mastracchio was the ascent/entry flight engineer, the primary robotic arm operator, and was responsible for the transfer of items from the space shuttle to the space station. STS-106 orbited the Earth 185 times, and covered 4.9 million miles in 11 days, 19 hours, and 10 minutes.
With the STS-118 mission, Endeavour's crew successfully added another truss segment, a new gyroscope and an external spare parts platform to the International Space Station. Mastracchio was the ascent/entry flight engineer, and as EVA lead, he participated in three of the four spacewalks. Traveling 5.3 million miles in space, the STS-118 mission was completed in 12 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 34 seconds.
STS-131 Discovery, a resupply mission to the International Space Station, was launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center. On arrival at the station, Discovery's crew dropped off more than 27,000 pounds of hardware, supplies and equipment, including a tank full of ammonia coolant, new crew sleeping quarters and three experiment racks. As the EVA lead, Mastracchio performed three spacewalks during this mission and logged 20 hours and 17 minutes of spacewalks. The STS-131 mission was accomplished in 15 days, 02 hours, 47 minutes, 10 seconds, and traveled 6,232,235 statute miles in 238 orbits.
Mastracchio launched on Expedition 38/39 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station along with Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata. During his stay aboard the space station, Mastracchio conducted three spacewalks, the first two to remove and replace a faulty cooling pump, and the third to remove and replace a failed backup computer relay box. Mastracchio, Tyurin and Wakata returned to Earth after 188 days in space. During the expedition, the crew completed 3,008 orbits of the Earth and traveled more than 79.8 million miles.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AstroRM
OCTOBER 2014
From 1993 until 1996, he worked as an ascent/entry Guidance and Procedures Officer (GPO) in Mission Control. An ascent/entry GPO has both pre-mission and real time Space Shuttle support responsibilities in the areas of onboard guidance, navigation, and targeting. During that time, he supported seventeen missions as a flight controller. In April 1996, Mastracchio was selected as an Astronaut Candidate. In August 1996, he started two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of initial training will qualify him for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.
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.. 10 pilots and 25 mission specialists selected from over 2,400 applicants. 9 additional international astronauts.
The International Space Station continues to orbit quietly without any significant problems hampering its operation as it awaits the arrival of a Space Shuttle crew to perform maintenance tasks while delivering logistics and supplies for use by future astronaut crews. Additional Details: here....
Space Shuttle Atlantis rocketed into space at 7:46 this morning and is on course to rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday. At the time of Atlantis' launch, the 67-ton station was flying above Hungary, southwest of Budapest. Additional Details: here....
Atlantis was launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39B. Solid rocket boosters RSRM-75 and external tank ET-103 were used to loft the orbiter into space. The inital orbit of 72 x 328 km x 51.6 deg was circularised by the Shuttle's OMS engines at apogee.
Atlantis docked with the PMA-2 adapter on the International Space Station at 05:51 GMT on September 10. The orbiter's small RCS engines were used to gently reboost the station's orbit several times.
Astronauts Lu and Malenchenko made a spacewalk on September 11 beginning at 04:47 GMT. They rode the RMS arm up to Zvezda and began installing cables, reaching a distance of 30 meters from the airlock when installing Zvezda's magnetometer. Total EVA duration was 6 hours 21 minutes.
During their 12-day flight, the astronauts spent a week docked to the International Space Station during which they worked as movers, cleaners, plumbers, electricians and cable installers. In all, they spent 7 days, 21 hours and 54 minutes docked to the International Space Station, outfitting the new Zvezda module for the arrival of the Expedition One crew later this fall.
The Shuttle undocked from ISS at 03:44 GMT on September 18 and made two circuits of the station each lasting half an orbit, before separating finally at 05:34 GMT. The payload bay doors were closed at 04:14 GMT on September 20 and at 06:50 GMT the OMS engines ignited for a three minute burn lowering the orbit from 374 x 386 km x 51.6 deg to 22 x 380 km x 51.6 deg. After entry interface at 07:25 GMT, the orbiter glided to a landing on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center with main gear touchdown at 07:56:48 GMT for a mission duration of 283 hr 11min.
STS-106 Mission Commander Terry Wilcutt along with his crew, Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov, were awakened at 5:46 p.m. CDT today. The wake up song from Mission Control was " I Say a Little Prayer" which was played for Wilcutt. All seven astronauts are now busy with final preparations for the docking with the International Space Station set for early tomorrow morning. Atlantis is planned to make the third docking with the station at 12:52 a.m. Additional Details: here....
Their first full day in space was a busy one for the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard Atlantis as they moved ever closer to an early Sunday morning linkup with the International Space Station. Docking is scheduled to occur at 12:52 a.m. central time Sunday as the two spacecraft soar high above Kazakhstan. Additional Details: here....
Commander Terry Wilcutt steered Space Shuttle Atlantis to a smooth link-up with the International Space Station at 12:51 a.m. CDT Sunday, setting the stage for six days of outfitting to make the orbiting outpost ready for its first residents in early November. Additional Details: here....
The seven member STS-106 crew was awakened just before 7 p.m. CDT to begin its fourth day of orbital activities and its first full day of docked operations with the International Space Station. The main focus of today's efforts will be a 6 ½ hour space walk conducted by Mission Specialists Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko. Additional Details: here....
STS-106 Commander Terry Wilcutt along with Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov were awakened at 6:46 p.m. this evening to begin their third day of docked operations. The wake up song, The Hukilau Song by Big Kahuna and the Copa Cat Pack, was played for Lu at the request of his sister. Additional Details: here....
The additional mission day will give Wilcutt, Pilot Scott Altman and Mission Specialists Ed Lu, Rick Mastracchio, Dan Burbank, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morukov more time to prepare the orbiting facility for the arrival of the first station crew when it docks to the station in early November. Additional Details: here....
The STS-106 astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis were awakened just before 7 p.m. Central to begin another day of electrical work and transfer activities as they near the halfway point of docked operations with the International Space Station. With 189 hours, 40 minutes of planned Atlantis-ISS docked time, the halfway point of docked operations will be reached at 11:45 p.m. this evening. Additional Details: here....
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station earlier today completed final electrical installations in both the Zvezda and Zarya modules and transferred another station-based experiment to demonstrate control technologies to suppress unwanted vibrations. Additional Details: here....
The seven astronauts aboard the Atlantis-International Space Station will soon resume their transfer activities as they start their 5th day of docked operations inside the orbiting facility. As of the start of their workday today, approximately one third of the almost three tons of supplies and equipment have already been moved into the station. Additional Details: here....
STS-106 Mission Commander Terry Wilcutt and his crew were awakened at 6:46 p.m. Central to begin their final full day of docked operations with the International Space Station. By the end of their workday on Sunday morning, Atlantis' astronauts will have finished their efforts of making the orbiting facility a home for the arrival of the first permanent residents of the outpost and all of the hatches between Atlantis and the station will have been closed in preparation for the Shuttle's departure on Sunday evening. Additional Details: here....
Following a successful week of docked operations, the seven astronauts aboard Shuttle Atlantis will depart the International Space Station later this evening, leaving behind the more than three tons (6,600 pounds) of supplies and equipment that was transferred to the orbiting facility. Additional Details: here....
Having departed the International Space Station last night, Atlantis' crew will now spend a day checking the shuttle's equipment and stowing away gear in preparation for the trip home, aiming for a 2:56 a.m. CDT landing on Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Additional Details: here....
The STS-106 astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis are preparing for their return to Earth with a planned predawn touchdown on the 3-mile long Shuttle Landing Facility runway at the Kennedy Space Center at 2:56 a.m. CDT Wednesday. The forecasted weather for early Wednesday shows essentially favorable conditions with some concern for rain showers in the vicinity of the Florida spaceport. Additional Details: here....
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:
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.
The crew exited into free space at 14:36 GMT. The SASA antenna was relocated from the P6 to the P1 truss, and two CETA carts were moved from S1 to P1. As a precautionary measure Mastracchio retreated to the airlock when he found minor damage to his glove, but Anderson continued working outside for another hour.
Docked with the Rassvet module of the ISS at 02:10 GMT on 29 May after a 5 hour 39 minute flight. On 1 November 2013 Yurchikin, Nyberg and Parmitano, undocked from the Rassvet module at 08:33 GMT and flew around the station at a distance of 200 m to redock at 08:54 GMT with the Zvezda aft port freed up by ATV-4. Undocked from the Zvezda module on 10 November at 23:26 GMT and landed in Kazakhstan at 02:49 GMT on 11 November.
Second spacewalk to repair the failed Loop A thermal control system.The astronauts went to External Stowage Platform 3 and removed spare Pump Module serial number 0006. The SSRMS robot arm moved Hopkins and the PM to the S1 truss; it was installed at 14:56 GMt and bolted in place at 15:08 GMT. The astronauts then connected ammonia fluid lines and electrical cables. One ammonia line initially refused to disconnect from its previous location and then did spill some NH3 flakes in the vicinity of the spacewalkers, requiring some decontamination precautions on return to the airlock.