Robert "Dr. Bob" Dempsey is a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

flight director for 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 ...

, selected in 2005. As astronomer he worked at the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for th ...

(STScI) prior to joining the ISS project. For five years he worked in the Onboard Data Interfaces and Networks (ODIN) group and then as a Communication and Tracking Officer before being selected as a flight director in 2005. He was the lead flight director for

Expedition 15 Expedition 15 was the 15th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). Four crew members participated in the expedition, although for most of the expedition's duration only three were on the station at any one time. During Expedition 15, ...

, worked several ISS assembly missions including

STS-122 STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the . STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall. The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the ...

(1E),

STS-123 STS-123 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. STS-123 was the 1J/A ISS assembly mission. The original launch target date was 14 February 2008 but after the delay of ...

(1J/A), and

STS-124 STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' to the International Space Station. ''Discovery'' launched on 31 May 2008 at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of 25 May 2008, and landed safely at t ...

(1J), and was the lead for

STS-130 STS-130 ( ISS assembly flight 20A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). 's primary payloads were the ''Tranquility'' module and the ''Cupola'', a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and ...

(20A) and for ATV-2 (Johannes Kepler). He works with Boeing on the Commercial Crew Program's CST-100
Starliner
vehicle. He was an undergraduate at

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and received his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

from the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

. He grew up in Michigan, is married to his wife Dorothea, and he enjoys cooking and traveling. Dempsey is a member of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

Expedition 15

Dempsey oversaw the jettisoning of the , refrigerator-sized Early Ammonia Servicer (EAS), along with an unused stanchion which had previously held a camera, from the International Space Station during

. What is left of the refrigerator after

re-entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

impacted Earth in the summer of 2008. Dempsey stated that the decision to jettison the equipment in this required some planning, saying "It's not a decision that's made lightly. Besides the fact that it might have some use in the future, it provides space debris that could later impact the space station," and further adding that this was necessary largely due to space and timing constraints on available

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 na ...

payloads.

Bibliography

Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph Observations of Procyon and HR 1099

The ROSAT All-Sky Survey of active binary coronae. I - Quiescent fluxes for the RS Canum Venaticorum systems

Multiwavelength Observations of Two Moderate Rotation RS CVn Systems: V815 Herculis and IM Pegasi

The active chromosphere binary HD 17433 (VY Arietis)

Chromospheric CA II H and K and H-alpha emission in single and binary stars of spectral types F6-M2

Observations of the CA II infrared triplet in chromospherically active single and binary stars

Line profile asymmetries in chromospherically active stars

H-alpha spectroscopy of active-chromosphere stars. I - Six G-K giants

Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph Observations of Variability in the RS Canum Venaticorum System V711 Tauri (HR 1099)

Extremely active long-period RS CVn binary HD 12545

The ROSAT All-Sky Survey of active binary coronae. II - Coronal temperatures of the RS Canum Venaticorum systems

Thank You for Flying the Vomit Comet

The International Space Station: Operating an Outpost in the New Frontier

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Bob NASA flight controllers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Toledo alumni University of Michigan alumni