Robert Thirsk
- STS -78 (1996)
- Soyuz TMA -15 ( 2009) ISS Expedition 20
- ISS Expedition 21
Robert Brent "Bob" Thirsk OC ( born August 17, 1953 in New Westminster, British Columbia Province, Canada ) is a Canadian astronaut.
Thirsk received in 1976 a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary in 1978 and a master's in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1982 he was awarded a doctorate in medicine from McGill University and in 1998 a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Astronauts activity
In December 1983, Thirsk was selected by the National Research Council of Canada to the Canadian astronaut program to join. In February 1984, he began his astronaut training. He was substitute for the payload specialists Marc Garneau, who flew the Space Shuttle mission STS -41 -G on October 5, 1984 into space. He participated in numerous parabolic flights part in a Boeing KC -135 NASA and was involved in various projects for Space Medicine, the International Space Station (ISS), Miss Activision planning and training with the Canadian Space Agency. He led an international research team that examined the effect of weightlessness on the heart and circulatory system. His team developed and tested an experimental anti -gravity suit the astronauts will help to withstand the effects of long space flights on the circulatory system.
From 1993 to 1994 he was Chief Astronaut of the Canadian Space Agency. In February 1994, he was commander of the Capsuls Mission, a simulated seven-day space mission, in which many international observers and three other Canadian astronauts were involved.
STS -78
On 20 June 1996 Thirsk flew as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia ( STS -78 ) on the hitherto longest mission of the Space Shuttle (16d 21h 48min ). Task were microgravity experiments in the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS). These were needed as a basis for future experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). On this mission, Thirsk wrote two articles for the newspaper Calgary Sun that have already been published, as Thirsk was still in space.
Astronaut training
In 1998, Thirsk to the Johnson Space Center to Houston to participate in the local astronaut training program at NASA. He learned how to deal with the systems of the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station spacewalks, robotics and in the Russian language. Thirsk worked as a speaker connection ( CAPCOM ) for the ISS.
In October 2004, Thirsk took part in an eleven-day mission in NEEMO Underwater Laboratory of NASA in Key Largo.
2004 graduated Thirsk training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Zvezdny Gorodok on-board engineer for the Soyuz spacecraft. For the ISS mission Soyuz TMA -6 he was 2005 Replacement Flight Engineer for ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori in April.
The end of 2007 Thirsk took part in a EUROCOM Training ( EUROCOM = European CAPCOM ) in the German Columbus Control Centre of ESA.
ISS Expedition 20
Thirsk was assigned to the ISS Expedition 20 as a flight engineer on the International Space Station. He started 27 May 2009 on Soyuz TMA -15 to the ISS and was the first Canadian to fly a Soyuz spacecraft. His return was originally scheduled for September 2009 with the Space Shuttle mission STS -129. Due to delays in the shuttle flight plan, the flight of STS -129 finally postponed until November 2009. Thus in the event of a further shift of STS -129, his return had not delayed too much, Thirsks Return was laid on the same Soyuz spacecraft, with which he started. He eventually landed on 1 December 2009 with Soyuz TMA -15 in Kazakhstan. In total he spent over 185 days aboard the ISS.
More career
Thirsk left the CSA to August 2012 and since then has been Vice President of Public, Government and Institute Affairs of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Private
Robert Thirsk is married and has three children.