Steve MacLean (astronaut)
- STS -52 (1992)
- STS- 115 (2006)
Steven Glenwood "Steve" MacLean ( born December 14, 1954 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ) is a Canadian astronaut.
MacLean was born in the Canadian capital Ottawa. There he attended after elementary school, the Merivale High School and then to Toronto ( Ontario) to go and study at York University. In addition to studying physics ( York, the nation's most extensive range has in this subject ), he led from 1974 for two years, the sports activities of the college. He also was a member of 1976 and 1977, the Canadian national team in gymnastics. But he did not neglect learning, and laid his 1977 examination for bachelor with honors.
With the support of several scholarships sat MacLean his physics studies at York University continued. He was so good that he often taught between 1980 and 1983 itself. After 1983 his PhD in laser physics, he was awarded by the Canadian Research Council again a scholarship. With this he went to the USA. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University and worked under the direction of Nobel Laureate Professor Schawlow at generated by the laser crystal fluorescence and laser spectroscopy.
Astronauts activity
MacLean began in February 1984 with the first basic course for payload experts. In December 1985, he was placed together with Bjarni Tryggvason as a replacement for use on the Shuttle (STS -71 -F with the space shuttle Columbia ). This mission " Canex -2 " was scheduled for March 1987, but was caused by the Challenger disaster deleted. MacLean and Tryggvason began in January 1986 with the training, when all the flight preparations for further shuttle flights were suspended in February.
Between 1988 and 1991, MacLean was contact the astronauts for the Canadian Stear program (Strategic TEchnologies in Automation & Robotics ). Launched in 1987 as a research project for the Canadian contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) to life, they wanted to make the Stear technique that was developed for use in orbit, for use on Earth only and vice versa.
Then MacLean took Bjarni Tryggvason again with his training as a payload specialist on again. Its maiden flight aboard the Columbia STS -52 took place in late October 1992. He managed a number of research projects under the name CANEX -2 (Canadian experiment ) were summarized. One of them was the Advanced Space Vision System Experiment ( ASVS ) on which MacLean worked for five years and was first tested in practice. The ASVS results were incorporated in the development of the robotic arm Canadarm2 built by Canada and for the ISS.
After his space flight MacLean accepted a teaching position at the University of Toronto and served for three years professor at the Institute for Aerospace Studies. He also worked for clients in industry and economy as a scientific advisor on the ISS. In April 1994 he was appointed head of the astronaut team of the Canadian Space Agency CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Along with his four years previously elected to the Canadian Astronaut Julie Payette squad colleague took MacLean from August 1996 at the Johnson Space Center (JSC ) NASA mission specialist in the training part. After the two -year course, he remained at JSC and worked in various fields for the astronaut office: in the robotics department, as CapCom or as a member of the support teams ( he supervised for example, the family of Ilan Ramon during STS -107 ).
In February 2002, MacLean was erected as a mission specialist for STS -115, a flight to the International Space Station ( ISS), which was originally planned for the year 2003. Caused by the Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003, all flights were first exposed. STS -115 finally launched three years late on 9 September 2006 towards the Space Station and docked two days later. In six days the crew of Atlantis mounted the 16 -ton P3/P4 element. Thus, the space station was the second of four solar modules. During this flight, MacLean performed a spacewalk. Together with Dan Burbank he prepared in seven hours before the two solar panels on their work by he removed the protective cover and transport fixtures. The mission went to twelve days to an end.
Management
On 1 September 2008 MacLean was appointed president of the Canadian Space Agency CSA. 1 February 2013, MacLean resigned from this position to work in a newly founded by Mike Lazaridis company in the field of quantum physics.
Private
Steve MacLean and his wife have three children.