Neil Woodward

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Neil Woodward
NASA astronaut
RankCommander, USN
SelectionNASA Group 17 (1998)

Neil W. Woodward III (born July 26, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American Naval officer and a former NASA astronaut.

Personal

He is Married. Activities in his spare time includes reading, computers, sailing, music, wine and cooking. His father, Dr. Neil W. Woodward Jr., resides in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His mother, Aileen S. Woodward, is deceased. Member of the United States Naval Institute and Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity.

Education

Woodward attended Putnam City High School in Oklahoma City, graduating in 1980. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a degree in physics in 1984. While at MIT, he was a brother of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. He attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, working in the Center for Relativity and then the Fusion Research Center. His thesis research involved using optical spectroscopy to investigate neoclassical plasma rotation in the Texas Experimental Tokamak fusion reactor. He received his master's degree in physics in 1988. Later, in 2000, he earned his master's degree in Engineering Management from the George Washington University.

Military career

Woodward joined the US Navy, reporting to

F/A-18 Hornet
and tested stores and systems for the F/A-18B, F/A-18D, and F/A-18F aircraft. Woodward was assigned to the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron when he was selected for the astronaut program.

Woodward logged over 1,700 flight hours in more than 25 different aircraft and has 265 arrested landings.

NASA career

Selected by NASA in June 1998, he reported for training in August 1998. Astronaut Candidate Training included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for

T-38
flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques.

From July 2004 to July 2008, Woodward was on detached duty to Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in various roles, including Director of the ESMD Integration Office and Director, Commercial Orbital Transportation Services.

Woodward retired from the Navy and NASA in October 2008, and currently works in the field of information technology for Amazon.

Awards and honors

  • Distinguished Graduate, US Naval Test Pilot School
  • Empire Test Pilot School Award for Best Developmental Test Thesis, USNTPS
  • Navy Commendation Medals
    (2)
  • Navy Achievement Medals
    (2)
  • Texas Business Hall of Fame fellowship (2000)

External links

  • "NEIL W. WOODWARD III (COMMANDER, USN), NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)" (PDF). NASA. October 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  • Spacefacts biography of Neil Woodward