Marsha Sue Ivins (born April 15, 1951) is an American retired

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and a veteran of five

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 ...

missions.

Career

Ivins, born April 15, 1951, in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, graduated from

Nether Providence High School Nether Providence High School was a four-year public high school in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, United States, serving Nether Providence Township and the boroughs of Rose Valley and Moylan. The school merged with Swarthmore High School in 1983 ...

Wallingford, Pennsylvania Wallingford is an unincorporated community in Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania, Nether Providence Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware County in Pennsylvanias. Founded in 1687, it is named for Wallingford, Oxfordshire, Wallin ...

in 1969, and earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

Aerospace Engineering 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 ...

from the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

in 1973. She is Jewish-American. She went to work for

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 ...

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

, and worked mainly on orbiter displays and controls, before being assigned as a

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air me ...

in 1980 and co-pilot on NASA administrative aircraft. In 1984, Ivins was selected as an astronaut candidate. She has flown aboard five space missions:

STS-32 STS-32 was the 33rd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the ninth launch of . Launched on January 9, 1990, it marked the first use of the Launch Complex 39A of Kennedy Space Center at since 1986; it also marked the first use of Mobil ...

(1990), STS-46 (1992),

STS-62 STS-62 was a Space Shuttle program mission flown aboard . The primary payloads were the USMP-02 microgravity experiments package and the OAST-2 engineering and technology payload, both in the orbiter's cargo bay. The two-week mission also featu ...

(1994),

STS-81 STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' mission to the Mir space station. Crew Mission highlights STS-81 was the fifth of nine planned missions to Mir and the second one involving an exchange of U.S. astronauts. Astronaut John B ...

(1997), and

STS-98 STS-98 was a 2001 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Atlantis''. It was the first human spaceflight launch of the 21st century. STS-98 delivered to the station the ''Destiny'' Laboratory Mod ...

(2001). Ivins retired from NASA on December 31, 2010.

Spaceflight experience

(January 9–20, 1990) launched from 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 ...

, Florida, on an eleven-day flight, during which crew members on board the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' successfully deployed a Syncom

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

, and retrieved the 21,400-pound

Long Duration Exposure Facility NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility, or LDEF (pronounced "eldef"), was a school bus-sized cylindrical facility designed to provide long-term experimental data on the outer space environment and its effects on space systems, materials, operatio ...

(LDEF). Mission duration was 261 hours, 1 minute, and 38 seconds. Following 173 orbits of the Earth and 4.5 million miles, ''Columbia'' returned with a night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. STS-46 (July 31 – August 8, 1992) was an 8-day mission, during which crew members deployed the EURECA (European Retrievable Carrier) satellite, and conducted the first Tethered Satellite System (TSS) test flight. Mission duration was 191 hours, 16 minutes, and 7 seconds. Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' and her crew launched and landed at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, completing 126 orbits of the Earth in 3.35 million miles.

(March 4–18, 1994) was a 14-day mission for the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP) 2 and Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) 2 payloads. These payloads studied the effects of microgravity on materials sciences and other space flight technologies. Other experiments on board included demonstration of advanced teleoperator tasks using the remote manipulator system,

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

crystal growth, and dynamic behavior of space structures. Mission duration was 312 hours, 23 minutes, and 16 seconds. Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' launched and landed at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, completing 224 orbits in 5.82 million miles.

''Atlantis'' (January 12–22, 1997) was a 10-day mission, the fifth to dock with Russia's Space Station

Mir ''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 ...

, and the second to exchange U.S. astronauts. The mission also carried the

Spacehab Astrotech Corporation, formerly Spacehab Inc., is a technology incubator headquartered in Austin, Texas. Astrotech uses technology sourced internally and from research institutions, government laboratories, and universities to fund, manage and s ...

double module providing additional middeck locker space for secondary experiments. In five days of docked operations more than three tons of food, water, experiment equipment and samples were moved back and forth between the two spacecraft. Following 160 orbits of the Earth, the STS-81 mission concluded with a landing on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33 ending a 3.9 million mile journey. Mission duration was 244 hours, 56 minutes.

''Atlantis'' (February 7–20, 2001) continued the task of building and enhancing the International Space Station by delivering the U.S. laboratory module

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

. The Shuttle spent seven days docked to the station while Destiny was attached and three spacewalks were conducted to complete its assembly. The crew also relocated a docking port, and delivered supplies and equipment to the resident Expedition-1 crew. Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' returned to land at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

, California traveling 5.3 million miles in 203 orbits. Mission duration was 12 days, 21 hours, 20 minutes.

Interviews

* , Budapest, December 6, 2012.
What It's Like to Spend 55 Days in Space
By Chris Mooney in ''Mother Jones'', September 20, 2013, accessed May 7, 2014
An Astronaut Reveals What Life In Space Is Really Like
By Marsha Ivins as told to Caitlin Roper in ''WIRED Magazine'', November 19, 2014, accessed November 23, 2014

External links

NASA Biography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivins, Martha 1951 births Living people 20th-century American Jews Women astronauts University of Colorado alumni American women engineers NASA civilian astronauts People from Baltimore 21st-century women engineers Space Shuttle program astronauts Mir crew members 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American women 21st-century American women