Donald A. Thomas
Donald Thomas | |
---|---|
NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 43d 8h 13m |
Selection | NASA Group 13 (1990) |
Missions | STS-65 STS-70 STS-83 STS-94 |
Mission insignia |
Donald Alan Thomas (born May 6, 1955) is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut.
Education
Graduated from
Early life and education
Following graduation from Cornell University in 1982, Thomas joined
He left AT&T in 1987 to work for
NASA career
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Thomas became an astronaut in July 1991. Thomas was turned down in his application to the astronaut program twice. He decided to differentiate from the applicant competition by getting his pilot's license, teaching a university course and furthering his education. In his third application he made the group of 100 semi-finalists. After being invited to Houston, going through a one-week medical exam and interviews, he was still turned down. He eventually moved over 1500 miles to live in Houston and was finally accepted on his fourth application.[1]
Thomas has served in the Safety, Operations Development, and Payloads Branches of the Astronaut Office. He was CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) for Shuttle missions
In his last assignment, he served as the International Space Station Program Scientist overseeing NASA experiments performed on the ISS. Thomas retired from NASA in July 2007 in order to pursue private interests.
Space flight experience
Post-NASA career
Don Thomas is head of the Willard Hackerman Academy of Mathematics and Science at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. He is a private pilot with over 250 hours in single engine land aircraft and gliders, and over 800 hours flying as mission specialist in NASA
In 2013, Thomas wrote a book with the assistance of Mike Bartell, "Orbit of Discovery: The All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission,"[4] referencing the STS-70 flight.
Organizations
Tau Beta Pi; Association of Space Explorers (ASE).
Awards and honors
Graduated with Honors from Case Western Reserve University in 1977. Recipient of NASA Sustained Superior Performance Award, 1989. Recipient of 4 NASA Group Achievement Awards, 4 NASA Space Flight Medals, 2 NASA Exceptional Service Medals, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.[2]
In July 2014, Don Thomas, now a retired astronaut, was featured as a celebrity visitor to the spaceship R. U. Sirius in the comic strip Brewster Rockit by Tim Rickard, which is anachronistically set in the present time. On July 4, the spaceship crew recalls that his 1995 mission was delayed due to a woodpecker attacking his Space Shuttle. The same woodpecker appears, pecking at the windows of the spaceship, at which time Thomas confesses that he owes the bird money.
References
- ^ "Interview with Dr Don Thomas". Space Association.
- ^ National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- ^ "STS-70". ohioastronaut.com.
- ISBN 978-1937378721.
External links
- "DONALD A. THOMAS (PH.D.), NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)" (PDF). NASA. July 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- Donald Thomas on Spacefacts.de
- Donald Thomas, Ohio astronaut, personal website
- Donald A. Thomas on Twitter
- Earth from Space: Interactive Astronaut Panel, Michael Barratt, Jean-Jacques Favier, Thomas Marshburn, Donald A. Thomas, the 13th Ilan Ramon International Space Conference, February 2018