Stephen Robinson
- STS -85 (1997)
- STS -95 ( 1998)
- STS- 114 (2005)
- STS- 130 (2010)
Stephen Kern "Steve" Robinson ( born October 26, 1955 in Sacramento, California, USA) is an American astronaut.
Robinson comes from California, where he was born in Sacramento, but grew up in the small town of Moraga. His parents are both Canadian-born.
Training
After Robinson had completed the Donald L. Rheem Elementary School in Moraga, he attended the public Campolindo High School ( the Olympic gold medalist Matt Biondi, incidentally, was also a Campolindo students ). With his graduation in 1973 he began studying at the University of California at Davis. He also worked from 1975 as part of an exchange program as a technician in the wind tunnel at Ames Research Center, where you just committed the final profile of the Space Shuttle. Its mechanical and aeronautical engineering studies at the College of Engineering, he joined in 1978 with a bachelor's degree.
Occupation
Robinson succeeded to get a permanent job as a research scientist at Ames, where he investigated the behavior of liquids and gases. At the same time he began his studies at Stanford University as a mechanical engineer continues: In 1985 he earned a master's degree and five years later he received his doctorate.
After Robinson moved from Ames Research Center at the Langley Research Center in Virginia, where he was appointed head of the Department of Experimental Fluid Physics was transferred. For a little over a year he was "borrowed" in June 1993 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a member of the staff at the bar Man Vehicle Laboratory ( MVL ), where since 1962 the human performance is investigated as a pilot of aircraft and space vehicles. Robinson was by Ken Cameron and Byron Lichtenberg, the third astronaut who worked at MVL. During this time he was directly involved in the preparations for a series of experiments that flew on the Spacelab mission STS -58 in October 1993. The Vestibular Experiments in Spacelab consisted of six individual projects that investigated the human adaptation to weightlessness. In addition, Dr. Robinson conducted research at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center at MIT. The Volpe Center is under the U.S. Department of Transportation and researches in the field of road safety. In September 1994, Robinson returned to Langley.
Astronauts activity
The desire to be spacemen, goes back to Robinson's youth. At the age of 15, he undertook in 1970 the first glider flights with a home-built glider whose components came from the junkyard. Since then, it had not let go of the dream of flying again. And although he enlisted his trips as some injury from the sand dunes of his California home, he bought his first airplane in 1974. His other great passion is music. Even in his high school days he belonged to a band ( he worked at that time as host of a local radio station ) and is now the lead guitarist of the astronaut rock band " Max Q ", which is why he is called by his colleagues also like " Stevie Ray". His instrument repertoire includes all kinds of guitar similar music devices - from the banjo, the mandolin on the way to bass guitar.
Robinson was selected as one of nine mission specialists 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. These were in the summer of 1994, the Johnson Space Center (JSC ) to Houston in Texas to tests, interviews and medical examinations invited. Since 1982, Robinson had always advertised as an astronaut at JSC. For the first time straightened his career aspirations within reach when he came in January 1992 with the 14th group in the final round.
After the one-year basic education that began in March 1995, Robinson was assigned to the computer department of the Astronaut Office. He tested in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory ( SAIL) new software for the space shuttle before it was used. He also worked as a connecting speakers in Control Panel.
STS -85
Since autumn 1996, Robinson trained for his first space missions. STS -85 was carried out by the discovery in August 1997. For the second time ( after STS- 66 three years earlier ) was the German astronomy satellite CRISTA -SPAS aboard a U.S. space shuttle. Short exposed after the start with the help of the robotic arm, the platform led a week-long measurements in the upper atmosphere by. Thereafter, developed by the University of Wuppertal device was re- captured and stored in the payload bay.
STS -95
Two years later, Robinson broke aboard STS -95 on his second spaceflight. Again, it was the discovery that as the main payload mitführte time a Spacehab module in the cargo bay. In this experiment the astronauts to around 80 research projects, which were monitored by Robinson as the scientific director. In addition, he was responsible for the robotic arm. With it, he sat out the astronomy platform SPARTAN. After several days of sun observation he caught her again. Special interest provoked the mission because the crew through space legend John Glenn has been strengthened.
In July 1999, Robinson was appointed as a substitute of Dan Bursch. This was as a Flight Engineer for ISS Expedition 4, which broke with STS -108 to the International Space Station (ISS) in December 2001 and was picked up again after half a year of STS- 111.
STS -114
After Robinson trained as a mission specialist for the shuttle flight STS -114, which after two years of interruption of operation of the U.S. space shuttle was resumed in the summer of 2005. He supported the two pilots not only as a flight engineer, but undertook together with the Japanese crew member Noguchi during the mission, three spacewalks ( EVAs ). One of these EVAs was not on the flight plan. The flight management had decided that a repair - the first conducted in orbit - the heat shield of the space shuttle was necessary and sent the two astronauts out to remove protruding at the Orbiterunterseite filler.
STS -130
On 5 December 2008, his participation in the mission STS -130 was announced as a mission specialist. The launch took place on February 8, 2010, the landing took place on 22 February.
According to the NASA
Robinson left NASA on 30 June 2012 and became a professor at the University of California at Davis