Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas, AO (born 18 December 1951) is an Australian and American

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

and a former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

astronaut. He has dual nationality; he became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's astronaut program. He is married to fellow NASA astronaut

Shannon Walker Shannon Walker (born June 4, 1965) is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010, onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space. She returned to space fo ...

Education

Thomas went to St Andrews Primary School, Adelaide at Walkerville in South Australia and subsequently to

St Peter's College, Adelaide , other_name = The Collegiate School of St Peter , seal_image = St Peter's College, Adelaide Logo.svg , seal_size = 150 , image = SPSC chapel and memorial hall.jpg , image_size ...

. After secondary school, he studied at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, where he received a

BEng A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

degree with

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in 1973 and a PhD degree in 1978, both in Mechanical Engineering. He appears in the 1972 edition of the Adelaide University Engineering Society's (AUES) annual publication, ''Hysteresis''. The caption below a photograph of the 21-year-old Thomas reads: He is the great-great-grandson of

Frederick George Waterhouse Frederick George Waterhouse (25 August 1815 – 7 September 1898) was an English naturalist, zoologist and entomologist who made significant contributions to the study of the natural history of Australia. Waterhouse was born near London, a so ...

, first curator of the South Australian Institute Museum, and naturalist of the John McDouall Stuart Expedition 1861–1862.

Early career

As a child, growing up in

Fullarton Fullarton is a small area in Irvine, North Ayrshire. It is situated close to Irvine Bay and is next to several industrial estates, large supermarkets and retail stores and the town centre itself. Stagecoach Western buses operate the local bus s ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Thomas was fascinated by space. His father has described how he started building

model rocket A model rocket are small rockets designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., for model) and be recovered by a variety of means. According to the United States National Association of Rocketry (NAR) Safety Code, model rockets are constructed of ...

s from cardboard and plastics. After completing his studies, Thomas accepted an offer from Lockheed in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. By 1990 he was the organisation's principal aerodynamic scientist. His career continued in the field, steering towards more senior research positions.

NASA career

Thomas was selected by NASA in March 1992 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. In August 1993, following one year of training, he was appointed a member of the

NASA Astronaut Corps The NASA Astronaut Corps is a unit of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members for U.S. and international space missions. It is based at Johnson Space Ce ...

and was qualified for an assignment as a mission specialist on

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

flight crews. While awaiting space flight assignment, Thomas supported shuttle launch and landing operations as an Astronaut Support Person (ASP) at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

. He also provided technical support to the Space Shuttle Main Engine project, the Solid Rocket Motor project and the External Tank project at the Marshall Space Flight Center. In June 1995, Thomas was named as payload commander for STS-77 and flew his first flight in space on ''Endeavour'' in May 1996. Although Paul D. Scully-Power had entered orbit as an oceanographer in 1985, Thomas was the first Australia-born professional astronaut to enter space. He next trained at the

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for train ...

Star City, Russia Star City (russian: Звёздный городо́к, ''Zvyozdny gorodok''The name "Zvyozdny gorodok" literally means "starry townlet".) is a common name of an area in Zvyozdny gorodok, Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been ...

in preparation for a long-duration flight. In 1998, he served as Board Engineer 2 aboard the Russian Space Station Mir for 140 days. From August 2001 to November 2003, Thomas served as Deputy

Chief of the Astronaut Office The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active astronauts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the NASA Astronaut Corps and is the principal advis ...

. Thomas completed his fourth space flight on STS-114 and has logged over 177 days in space. He was working with issues for the Exploration Branch of the Astronaut Office until his retirement from NASA in February 2014. NASA officially announced Thomas' retirement on 20 June 2014, which took effect on 1 March 2014, after 22 years with the space agency.

Spaceflights

STS-77 STS-77 was the 77th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission began from launch pad 39B from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 19 May 1996 lasting 10 days and 40 minutes an ...

was a mission during which the crew deployed two satellites, tested a large inflatable space structure on orbit and conducted a variety of scientific experiments in a Spacehab laboratory module carried in ''Endeavour's'' payload bay. The flight was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 19 May 1996 and completed 160 orbits above the Earth while traveling 4.1 million miles and logging 240 hours and 39 minutes in space. On 22 January 1998, Thomas launched aboard Space Shuttle '' Endeavour'' as part of the

STS-89 STS-89 was a Space Shuttle mission to the '' Mir'' space station flown by Space Shuttle '' Endeavour'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 22 January 1998. Crew Crew notes STS-89 was originally scheduled to return Wendy B. La ...

crew to dock with the

Mir Space Station ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

. He served aboard Mir as Flight Engineer 2 and returned to earth with the crew of

STS-91 STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the ''Mir'' space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998. Crew Mission highlights STS-91 marked the final Shuttle/''M ...

aboard Space Shuttle '' Discovery'' on 12 June 1998, completing 130 days in space and 2,250 orbits of the earth.

STS-102 STS-102 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Discovery'' and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-102 flew in March 2001; its primary objectives were resupplying the ISS a ...

''Discovery'' (8–21 March 2001) was the eighth Shuttle mission to visit the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

and Thomas's third flight. Mission accomplishments included the delivery of the Expedition 2 crew and logistics resupply with the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, and then return to earth of the Expedition 1 crew. During the mission, Thomas performed an EVA of 6.5 hours to install components to the outside of the space station. Mission duration was 307 hours and 49 minutes. STS-114 ''Discovery'' (26 July – 9 August 2005) was the Return to Flight mission following the '' Columbia'' accident during which the crew continued the assembly of the International Space Station. Thomas tested and evaluated new procedures for flight safety and inspection and repair techniques for the Shuttle's thermal protection system. After a 2-week, 5.8 million mile journey in space, the orbiter ''Discovery'' and its crew returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Mission duration was 333 hours, 32 minutes, 48 seconds.

Post-NASA career

On the 20th of November 2020 the Andy Thomas Foundation was launched. The purpose was to advance space education, raise space awareness and contribute to the national space communtiy.

Honours and awards

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

: Appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) "for service to science and technology through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) programme as an astronaut and for contributions to the human exploration of space."Officer of the Order of Australia
26 January 2000, Citation: ''For service to science and technology through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) programme as an astronaut and for contributions to the human exploration of space.'' * 2001: Centenary MedalCentenary Medal
1 January 2001, Citation: ''For service to Australian society in astronautics and space exploration.'' *2018: Life Membership of the Space Industry Association of Australia

References

External links

NASA Astronaut Bio: Andrew S. W. Thomas (Ph.D.)(March 2014)
(The Sun-Herald, 20 May 2004): Comments from Thomas about state of Australian space science
Ri Aus - people in Science

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Andy 1951 births Living people Australian astronauts Australian emigrants to the United States People from Adelaide University of Adelaide alumni People educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide NASA civilian astronauts People with acquired American citizenship Officers of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Lockheed people Crew members of the International Space Station Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers Mir crew members