Gregory C. Johnson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article is about the astronaut. For the comedic character, see
Ray J. Johnson
.
This article is about Gregory C. Johnson. For information about another astronaut with a similar name, see Gregory H. Johnson.
Gregory Johnson
NASA astronaut
RankCaptain, USNR
Time in space
12d 21h 38m
SelectionNASA Group 17 (1998)
MissionsSTS-125
Mission insignia

Gregory Carl "Ray J" Johnson (born July 30, 1954), (

aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut. He spent his military career in both the regular United States Navy and the Navy Reserve. Johnson was the pilot on Space Shuttle mission STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope
servicing mission.

Personal data

Johnson was born on July 30, 1954, in

civilian commercial pilot certificate
with multi-engine landplane and single-engine seaplane ratings.

Johnson enjoys

auto repair, and has two grown sons from a previous marriage. He is married to Nanette Faget, who has three children.[1]

Naval service

Johnson received his commission as an

TA-4J Skyhawk II
aircraft.

In 1980, then

Western Pacific and Indian Ocean aboard USS Kitty Hawk. During this time, he was promoted to Lieutenant
and selected for augmentation of his commission to the Regular Navy.

In 1984, Johnson reported to the

NAS Whidbey Island for his department head tour in an operational A-6 squadron. Following refresher training and an instructor tour at VA-128, he reported to Attack Squadron 196 (VA-196
), serving as both an A-6 pilot/mission commander and the squadron's Aircraft Maintenance Department Head. During this tour he completed another Western Pacific and Indian Ocean deployment as well as a Northern Pacific deployment.

Johnson resigned his Regular Navy commission in 1990 and transferred back to the Naval Reserve while accepting a concurrent civil service position with the

Ellington Field, Texas. In his concurrent military capacity from 1990 to 2007, he was promoted to Commander and later to Captain in the Navy Reserve and was the Commanding Officer of four Navy Reserve units. He also served as a Senior Research Officer in a Science and Technology Unit of the Office of Naval Research based at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California
.

He has logged over 10,800 flight hours in 50 aircraft types and has accumulated over 500 carrier landings. He retired from the U.S. Navy with over 30 years of service effective October 1, 2007.[1]

NASA career

In April 1990, Johnson was accepted as an aerospace engineer and research pilot at the NASA JSC Aircraft Operations Division,

KC-135
co-pilot. Additionally, he conducted flight test programs in the T-38 aircraft including JET-A airstart testing, T-38N avionics upgrade testing and the first flight of the T-38 inlet redesign aircraft. In 1994 he assumed duties as the Chief, Maintenance & Engineering Branch responsible for all maintenance and engineering modifications on NASA JSC's 44 aircraft.

Selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1998, he reported for training in August 1998. Johnson was the class leader for the seventeenth group of astronauts, with 31 U.S. and international members. Johnson was initially assigned as an Astronaut Support Personnel (ASP) responsible for configuring the Orbiter switches prior to launch and strapping astronauts in their seats for launch. More recently he served as the

Astronaut Office representative for all technical aspects of orbiter landing and roll out issues. From June 2004 to November 2005, Johnson served as Manager, Launch Integration, for the Space Shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.[1]
He also served as the Astronaut Office Deputy, Shuttle Branch and Return to Flight Representative.

Johnson graduated with fellow astronaut

call signs. Gregory H. Johnson is known as "Box", while Gregory C. Johnson is known as "Ray J".[1]

Spaceflight experience

STS-125

Main article: STS-125
Johnson uses the Portable In-Flight Landing Operations Trainer (PILOT) on the flight deck of the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis during the STS-125 mission

Johnson was the pilot on STS-125, the final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. It lasted from May 11–24, 2009, traveling 5,276,000 miles in 197 Earth orbits. Atlantis carried two new instruments to the telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan. The mission also carried an IMAX camera and the crew documented the progress of the mission for the movie Hubble.[2]

Organizations

Awards and honors

Johnson also received many other awards and decorations.[1]

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
.

  1. ^ a b c d e "Johnson's official NASA biography" (PDF). NASA. February 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Pearlman, Robert Z. (May 19, 2009). "Hubble's Last Visit To Be Relived in 3-D". space.com. Retrieved January 25, 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gregory C. Johnson.
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