Terrence W. Wilcutt

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Terrence Wilcutt
NASA astronaut
RankColonel, USMC
Time in space
42d 0h 5m
SelectionNASA Group 13 (1990)
MissionsSTS-68
STS-79
STS-89
STS-106
Mission insignia

Terrence Wade Wilcutt (born October 31, 1949) is a United States Marine Corps officer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. Wilcutt was NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance, until his retirement from NASA in December 2020.[1]

Personal

Born October 31, 1949, in Russellville, Kentucky, but raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Wilcutt graduated from Southern High School in 1967; and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics in 1974 from Western Kentucky University where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He then taught high school math for two years before entering the United States Marine Corps.

He was commissioned in 1976 and earned his

A-7 Corsair II
, the F-4 Phantom, and various other aircraft while serving in a wide variety of projects and classified programs.

He has over 6,600 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

NASA career

Wilcutt was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1990; he piloted missions STS-68 (1994) and STS-79 (1996). Wilcutt commanded mission STS-89 (1998) to the Mir space station and STS-106 (2000) to the International Space Station.

Wilcutt served as director of safety and mission assurance at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston where he was tasked with the Safety Technical Authority of the programs and projects at JSC as well as JSC's Institutional Safety program. Since Sept 1, 2011, Wilcutt has served as NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance. He was responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of all safety and mission assurance policies and procedures for all NASA programs. He retired from NASA on December 31, 2020.[1]

Spaceflight experience

STS-68 Endeavour (September 30 to October 11, 1994) was part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. STS-68, Space Radar Lab-2 (SRL-2), was the second flight of three advanced radars called SIR-C/X-SAR (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar), and a carbon-monoxide pollution sensor, MAPS (Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites). SIR-C/X-SAR and MAPS operated together in Endeavour's cargo bay to study Earth's surface and atmosphere, creating radar images of Earth's surface environment and mapping global production and transport of carbon monoxide pollution. Real-time crew observations of environmental conditions, along with over 14,000 photographs, aided the science team in interpreting the SRL data. The SRL-2 mission was a highly successful test of technology intended for long-term environmental and geological monitoring of planet Earth. STS-68 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Mission duration was 11 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, traveling 4.7 million miles in 183 orbits of the Earth.

STS-79

John Blaha and bringing Shannon Lucid
home after her record six months stay aboard Mir. Mission duration was 10 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, traveling 3.9 million miles in 159 orbits of the Earth.

STS-89 Endeavour (January 22–31, 1998), was the eighth Shuttle-Mir docking mission during which the crew transferred more than 9,000 pounds of scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from Space Shuttle Endeavour to Mir. In the fifth and last exchange of a U.S. astronaut, STS-89 delivered Andy Thomas to Mir and returned with David Wolf. Mission duration was 8 days, 19 hours and 47 seconds, traveling 3.6 million miles in 138 orbits of the Earth.

STS-106

space walk in order to connect power, data and communications cables to the newly arrived Zvezda
Service Module and the Space Station. STS-106 orbited the Earth 185 times, and covered 4.9 million miles in 11 days, 19 hours, and 10 minutes.

Special honors

References

  1. ^ a b "Terrence W. Wilcutt, NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance". NASA. December 2020 [April 22, 2019]. Retrieved June 24, 2021.

External links