Kathryn C. Thornton
- STS -33 ( 1989)
- STS -49 (1992 )
- STS -61 (1993)
- STS -73 (1995)
Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton ( born August 17, 1952 in Montgomery, Alabama ) is a former American astronaut.
Thornton received a bachelor's degree in physics from Auburn University in 1977 and a Masters in Physics from the University of Virginia in 1974. In 1979 she was awarded a doctorate in physics from the University of Virginia.
1979 Thornton received a scholarship from the NATO to continue her research at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. In 1980 she returned to the U.S. and was a physicist at the U.S. Army Foreign Science and Technology Center.
Astronauts activity
In May 1984, Thornton was selected by NASA as an astronaut contender.
STS -33
On November 22, 1989 Thornton started as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery for the first time into space. During the flight, a satellite of the Defense Department has been suspended. After 79 orbits of the Discovery returned on November 27 back to Edwards Air Force Base.
STS -49
On 7th May 1992 Thorton flew as a mission specialist on the maiden flight of the space shuttle Endeavour for the second time into space. The aim of this mission was the two years previously launched communications satellite Intelsat VI -F3 to recover for a repair. Only with the third spacewalk (EVA ) finally, the satellite could be captured by hand. Then Intelsat received a new apogee, so that he could achieve an intended geostationary orbit. In another EVA structures and tools were tested.
STS -61
Thornton flew on 2 December 1993 as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavour for the third time into space. It was the first repair mission of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST ). The primary mirror of the three and a half years previously started observatory was faulty, resulting in blurred images. Thornton took part in two of the five extravehicular activities ( EVAs ), which were required to install the correction instrument COSTAR and WF / PC - II camera. Furthermore, the solar panels have been replaced for the power supply for the HST.
STS -73
On October 20, 1995 Thornton started as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia into space. On this 16-day Spacelab mission under the name " United States Microgravity Laboratory ( USML ) 2 " 16 main experiments were carried out in the research disciplines of materials, combustion science, fluid physics and biotechnology.
According to the NASA
August 1, 1996 Thornton left NASA and became a professor of physics at the University of Virginia. She is also director of the local Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education.
Private
Kathryn Thornton is married and has five children, two stepsons.