George D. Zamka

• STS- 120 (2007)
• STS- 130 (2010)

George David Zamka ( born June 29, 1962 in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA ) is a former American astronaut.

Training

Zamka grew up in Rochester (Michigan), where in 1980 he graduated from high school. He then studied at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984 and earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics.

Zamka joined the U.S. Marines and was trained by a training NCO 1985 pilots. He was transferred to an A-6 unit that was sent to Japan, Korea and the Philippines. This was followed by training for instructors in tactics and aircraft armament. After a training course on the F/A-18 fighter-bomber he was assigned to a squadron also conducted operations in the Asian region. His unit was involved early 1991, also in Operation Desert Storm - accounted for 66 Zamka of the 557 combat missions.

After he had in 1994 received his pilot's license test, Zamka developed at the Naval Strike Aircraft Test Squadron at Patuxent River ( Maryland), the F/A-18 on. He then enrolled at the Florida Institute of Technology a, finished study in Industrial Engineering and in 1997 received a master in it. Then he took his military service again and worked as an aircraft maintenance officer.

Astronauts activity

Zamka was presented by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1998; He was one of eight shuttle pilots. After basic training, he worked among other things as an instructor. He also led the Shuttle Training of 19 astronaut group in 2004.

STS -120

As of June 2006, Zamka was preparing for his first space flight. He was pilot on STS - 120, launched on 23 October 2007 and after 15 days came to an end.

STS -130

On 5 December 2008, his participation in the mission STS -130 was announced as commander. The launch took place on 8 February 2010, landing on February 22.

According to the NASA

Zamka retired in March 2013 from NASA and went to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.