Jeffrey Ashby
- STS -93 ( 1999)
- STS- 100 (2001)
- STS- 112 (2002)
Jeffrey Shears " Jeff" Ashby ( born June 16, 1954 in Dallas, Texas, USA) is an American astronaut.
Born in Texas, Ashby grew up in Colorado. The Rocky Mountains located near the small town of Evergreen, 40 kilometers west of Denver, he called his home. Following high school he studied at the University of Idaho Mechanical Engineering and earned a bachelor's degree in 1976.
Marine activity
Ashby had committed in 1972 for the U.S. Navy and entered his military service after graduating from. On machines of the A- 7E " Corsair II" and F/A-18 " Hornet ", he was trained as a Navy pilot. He graduated from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School in Miramar (California ), where he received the diploma of 1986 tactical officer. This course is known for the eponymous film starring Tom Cruise as " TOPGUN ", although he officially Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor is called. Two years later joined Ashby at Patuxent River ( Maryland) trained as a test pilot from.
Ashby was assigned to the Combat Squadron 94 ( Navy designation VFA- 94) and the end of May 1991 was aboard the "USS Abraham Lincoln " in the direction of the Persian Gulf. It was the first use of the aircraft carrier, who coordinated the command ship of the allied forces, the peace-keeping operations after the Second Gulf War. Overall Ashby flew 33 F/A-18-Einsätze. After he had studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Tennessee and in 1993 a master's earned, he returned in the summer of the year for four months with the "USS Abraham Lincoln " in the crisis region back to the framework of "Operation Southern Watch " the Iraqi no-fly zones to monitor.
With the "USS Abraham Lincoln " Ashby was sent in October 1993 to Somalia. For three months he took part with 32 missions in "Operation Continue Hope" that the UN forces and humanitarian organizations supported by the " Operation Restore Hope".
Astronauts activity
Jeffrey Ashby was selected as one of ten pilot candidates selected with the 15th astronaut group in December 1994. From a total of 2,962 applicants who met the formal selection criteria, 121 finalists had emerged. They were invited to the Johnson Space Center (JSC ) to testing, job interviews and medical examinations in the summer of 1994. The astronaut candidate began their one-year basic training in March 1995.
In autumn 1996, Ashby, who is called by his colleagues "Bones" was selected for his first space flight. He should participate as pilot on Space Shuttle mission STS -85, but was only half a year later replaced without giving any reason by Kent Rominger.
Since the spring of 1998 Ashby trained for its maiden flight on STS -93, which was conducted in July 1999 by the Space Shuttle Columbia. For the first time stood with Eileen Collins woman a shuttle company before. The crew consisted of five astronauts, of which Ashby was the only one without a space flight experience. Seven hours after the start was the X-ray telescope Chandra, the main payload of the flight, exposed.
A year after his first flight into orbit Ashby received his next nomination. He was pilot on STS -100., In April / May 2001 Target Endeavour was the International Space Station (ISS), the anlieferte a robot arm. Two mission specialists undertook two exits ( EVAs ) to mount the gripper. They were supported by Ashby, who operated from the cockpit of the robot arm of the shuttle.
In October 2002, Ashby commanded STS -112 for the first time a mission. The Atlantis brought the lattice structure S1 to the ISS. Three EVAs were necessary to connect the 14- ton segment with the station.
Ashby, who left the Navy in 2001, is currently working as a liaison officer. Stationed in Colorado, he coordinates the cooperation between the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs and NASA in Washington, DC.
Private
Ashby is married for the second time and has no children.