Nicole Marie Passonno Stott (born November 19, 1962) is an American
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
and a retired
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. She served as a Flight Engineer on ISS
Expedition 20
Expedition 20 was the 20th long-duration flight to the International Space Station. The expedition marked the first time a six-member crew inhabited the station. Because each Soyuz-TMA spacecraft could hold only three people, two separate laun ...
and
Expedition 21
Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 11 October 2009, with Frank de Winne becoming the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission.
The handover between Expeditio ...
and was a Mission Specialist on
STS-128
STS-128 (ISS assembly flight 17A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on August 28, 2009. carried the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module ''Leonardo'' as its primary payload. ''Leonardo'' contain ...
and
STS-133
STS-133 ( ISS assembly flight ULF5) was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' docked with the International Space Station. It was ''Discoverys 39th and final mission. The mission l ...
.
After 27 years of working at NASA, the space agency announced her retirement effective June 1, 2015. She is married to
Christopher Stott, a
Manx-born American space entrepreneur.
Early life and education
Stott was born in
Albany,
New York and resides in
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...
. She attended
St. Petersburg College
St. Petersburg College (SPC) is a public college in Pinellas County, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and one of the institutions in the system designated a "state college," as it offers a greater number of bachelor's degrees th ...
studying aviation administration, graduated with a
B.S.
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 ...
degree from
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 1987, and received her
M.S.
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
degree in Engineering Management from the
University of Central Florida
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...
in 1992. Nicole Stott began her career in 1987 as a structural design engineer with
Pratt & Whitney Government Engines in
West Palm Beach
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. She spent a year with the Advanced Engines Group performing structural analyses of advanced jet engine component designs. Stott is an instrument rated private pilot.
NASA career
In 1988, Stott joined NASA 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 ...
(KSC), Florida as an Operations Engineer in the
Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). After six months, she was detailed to the Director of Shuttle Processing as part of a two-person team tasked with assessing the overall efficiency of Shuttle processing flows, and implementing tools for measuring the effectiveness of improvements. She was the NASA KSC Lead for a joint Ames/KSC software project to develop intelligent scheduling tools. The Ground Processing Scheduling System (GPSS) was developed as the technology demonstrator for this project. GPSS was a success at KSC, and also a commercial success that is part of the
PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft, Inc. is a company that provides human resource management systems (HRMS), Financial Management Solutions (FMS), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and enterprise performance management (EPM) software ...
suite of software products. During her time at KSC, Stott also held a variety of positions within NASA Shuttle Processing, including Vehicle Operations Engineer; NASA Convoy Commander; assistant to the Flow Director for
Space Shuttle Endeavour
Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and ...
; and Orbiter Project Engineer for Columbia. During her last two years at KSC, she was a member of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office and relocated to Huntington Beach, California where she served as the NASA Project Lead for the ISS truss elements under construction at the Boeing Space Station facility. In 1998, she joined the
Johnson Space Center (JSC) team in Houston, Texas as a member of the NASA Aircraft Operations Division, where she served as a Flight Simulation Engineer (FSE) on the
Shuttle Training Aircraft
The Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) was a NASA training vehicle that duplicated the Space Shuttle's approach profile and handling qualities, allowing Space Shuttle pilots to simulate Shuttle landings under controlled conditions before attempting ...
(STA).
Selected as a mission specialist by NASA in July 2000, Stott reported for astronaut candidate training in August 2000. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch, where she performed crew evaluations of station payloads. She also worked as a support astronaut and
CAPCOM for the ISS
Expedition 10
Expedition 10 (2004–2005) was the tenth expedition to the International Space Station, using the Soyuz TMA-5, which stayed during the expedition for emergency evacuation.
Crew
Mission parameters
*Perigee: 384 km
*Apogee: 396 k ...
crew. In April 2006, she was a crew member on the
NEEMO 9 mission (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) where she lived and worked with a six-person crew for 18 days on the
Aquarius
Aquarius may refer to:
Astrology
* Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign
* Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages
Astronomy
* Aquarius (constellation)
* Aquarius in Chinese astronomy
Arts and entertainme ...
undersea research habitat.
Stott was previously assigned to
Expedition 20
Expedition 20 was the 20th long-duration flight to the International Space Station. The expedition marked the first time a six-member crew inhabited the station. Because each Soyuz-TMA spacecraft could hold only three people, two separate laun ...
and
Expedition 21
Expedition 21 was the 21st long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition began on 11 October 2009, with Frank de Winne becoming the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission.
The handover between Expeditio ...
. She was launched to 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 ( ...
with the crew of
STS-128
STS-128 (ISS assembly flight 17A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on August 28, 2009. carried the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module ''Leonardo'' as its primary payload. ''Leonardo'' contain ...
, participating in the first
spacewalk of that mission,
and returned on
STS-129
STS-129 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF3) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). ''Space Shuttle Atlantis, Atlantis'' was launched on November 16, 2009 at 14:28 Eastern Time Zone, EST, and land ...
, thus becoming the last Expedition crew-member to return to Earth via the space shuttle. Stott completed her second spaceflight on
STS-133
STS-133 ( ISS assembly flight ULF5) was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' docked with the International Space Station. It was ''Discoverys 39th and final mission. The mission l ...
, the third to last (antepenultimate) flight of the space shuttle.
First live tweet-up from space
On October 21, 2009, Stott and her Expedition 21 crewmate
Jeff Williams participated in the first
NASA Tweetup from the station with members of the public gathered at
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 ...
Headquarters in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
This involved the first ''live''
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
connection for the astronauts. Previously, astronauts on board the Space Shuttle or ISS had sent the messages they desired to send as tweets down to
Mission Control which then posted them via the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
to Twitter.
Post NASA
Stott was featured in a Super Bowl LIV commercial promoting
Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code (also known as GWC) is an international nonprofit organization that aims to support and increase the number of women in computer science. The organization works toward closing the gender employment difference in computing. They h ...
. Stott has also written Back To Earth, described as "What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet and Our Mission to Protect It". She is also an artist and brought a small watercolor kit on
ISS Expedition 21 where she was the first person to paint with watercolor in space. Her current works often relate to astronomy including her Earth Observation collection and Spacecraft collection. In 2022, she is providing the narration to a piece being performed by the Schenectady Symphony Orchestra, Glen Cortese's "Voyager: A Journey to the Stars."
References
External links
*
*
Nicole Stott – Spacefacts biography(
NYT; April 26, 2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stott, Nicole P.
1962 births
Living people
American people of German descent
American people of Italian descent
American astronauts
Aquanauts
Clearwater High School alumni
University of Central Florida alumni
Crew members of the International Space Station
Women astronauts
Space artists
Space Shuttle program astronauts
Spacewalkers