George D. Zamka

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George Zamka
NASA astronaut
RankColonel, USMC
Time in space
28d 20h 32m
SelectionNASA Group 17 (1998)
MissionsSTS-120
STS-130
Mission insignia

George David "Zambo" Zamka (born 1962) is a former

pilot with over 3500 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Zamka piloted the Space Shuttle Discovery in its October 2007 mission to the International Space Station and served as the commander of mission STS-130
in February 2010.

Personal

George David Zamka was born in 1962 at Margaret Hague Hospital in

Medellin, Colombia,;[3] and Rochester Hills, Michigan. He graduated from Rochester Adams High School
in Michigan in 1980.

Zamka is married and has two children. His extended family resides in Colorado, Mississippi, Georgia, Indiana, Florida and Tennessee. Zamka is of

Polish ancestry.[6]

Military career

Zamka graduated with a

F/A-18 Hornet
test pilot and operations officer.

In 1997, he earned a Masters of Science degree in engineering management from the

MCAS Iwakuni
, Japan.

In August 2010, Zamka retired from the Marine Corps after almost 30 years of distinguished service. As of May 2018[update] he is

chairman of the board of the National Association of Spaceports.[7]

NASA career

In June 1998, Zamka was selected for the NASA astronaut program, and reported for training in August. He served as lead for the Shuttle training and procedures division and as supervisor for the astronaut candidate class of 2004. Zamka made his first spaceflight as the pilot of mission STS-120, and second as the commander for STS-130.

Zamka at the Planetarium of Bogotá

Honors and awards

Zamka has received the following honors and awards: the

Combat "V", and various other military service and campaign awards. Distinguished Graduate, U.S. Naval Academy. Commodore's list and Academic Achievement Award, Training Air Wing Five. Recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, two NASA Space Flight Medals, four NASA Superior Accomplishment Awards and the GEM Award. He received also Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2010).[8][9]

Promotional activities

In March 2008, Zamka visited Colombia's Planetarium of Bogotá with the crew of mission STS-120 to share their experience as NASA astronauts with 200 students, 50 teachers, and 20 science major experts.[10]

See also

References

This article incorporates text in the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
, a United States government agency.
  1. ^ "George D. Zamka, Biographical Data" (PDF). Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. NASA. March 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  2. ^ NJ.com, Cassidy Grom | NJ Advance Media For (2019-02-24). "First they were Jersey kids, then they were astronauts. Where are they now?". nj. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
  3. ^ Posada-Swafford, Angela. "George Zamka: astronauta, matemático y 'top gun'" (in Spanish). eltiempo.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-28.
  4. ^ NASA Hispanic Astronauts Archived 2001-07-11 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Virgil Fernandez (2006). Hispanic military heroes. Austin, Texas: VFJ Pub.
    OCLC 63180907
    .
  6. ^ Astronaut George Zamka in Poland Archived 2012-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Space Voyagers". 8 July 2022.
  8. ^ Odznaczenie dla astronauty George'a Zamki Archived 2012-03-11 at the Wayback Machine (in Polish)
  9. ^ M.P.2011 Nr 12 poz. 130 (in Polish)
  10. ^ http://imagiverse.org/resources/explore/forero.htm Zamka visits Bogota's planetarium

External links

Media related to George D. Zamka at Wikimedia Commons

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