Steven Roy Swanson (born December 3, 1960 in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

) is an American engineer and retired

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 ...

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 ...

. Swanson has flown two shuttle flights,

STS-117 STS-117 ( ISS assembly flight 13A) was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on 8 June 2007. ''Atlantis'' lifted off from the launch pad at 19:38 EDT. Damage from a hail ...

and

STS-119 STS-119 ( ISS assembly flight 15A) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by space shuttle Discovery during March 2009. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment (S6), ...

, and one

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

flight, TMA-12M. All of the flights were 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 ...

. He has logged over 195 days in space and completed five

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmen ...

s totaling 28 hours and 5 minutes. Swanson has served in other roles at NASA, such as a

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

for both International Space Station and

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. His awards and honors include the

NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration established in 1991. The medal is awarded to both civilian members of NASA and military astronauts. To be awarded the medal, a NASA employee ...

and the JSC Certificate of Accommodation. Prior to becoming a NASA astronaut, Swanson worked for

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, as a

software engineer Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term ''p ...

. He is married and has three children.

Early life

Although born in

, Swanson considers

Steamboat Springs, Colorado The City of Steamboat Springs is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Routt County, Colorado, United States. Steamboat Springs is the principal city of the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Sta ...

to be his home. He graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in 1979, and went on to the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

to receive a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

engineering physics Engineering physics, or engineering science, refers to the study of the combined disciplines of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, and engineering, particularly computer, nuclear, electrical, electronic, aerospace, materials or mechanical en ...

in 1983. In 1986, he received a

master of applied science Master of Applied Science (abbreviations include MASc, MAppSc, MApplSc, and MAS) is an academic degree. It is conferred far more widely in the Commonwealth of Nations than in the US. "MASc" degrees are generally conferred in Commonwealth of Nation ...

computer systems A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

from

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

. He later received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in 1998.

NASA career

Swanson joined NASA in 1987 as a

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

and 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 ...

working 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 ...

. He was selected as an astronaut in May 1998. His first mission was

, which launched June 2007. Swanson was a mission specialist and flight engineer on this flight. He served as a mission specialist and lead spacewalker on

, which launched March 15, 2009 and landed on March 28. He launched to the

as a member of

Expedition 39 Expedition 39 was the 39th expedition to the International Space Station. It marked the first time the ISS had been under command of a Japanese astronaut, space veteran Koichi Wakata. After Expedition 21 in 2009 and Expedition 35 in 2013, it wa ...

/ 40 on March 25, 2014 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and returned to Earth on September 11, 2014. NASA announced Swanson's retirement in August 2015. Since then he has worked at Boise State University as a distinguished educator in residence assisting with programs such as th
NASA SUITS Program
Steven Swanson is a

Browncoat ''Firefly'' is an American space Western drama television series, created by writer and director Joss Whedon, under his Mutant Enemy Productions label. Whedon served as an executive producer, along with Tim Minear. The series is set in the yea ...

, or fan of

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill Whedon (; born June 23, 1964) is an American filmmaker, composer, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions, co-founder of Bellwether Pictures, and is best known as the creator of several television series: ...

's ''Serenity'' and ''Firefly''. He added copies of the movie and box set of the TV series to the ISS Movie Library on

in June 2007.

References

External links

Steve Swanson Website
*
Russian Federal Space Agency ISS Crews biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swanson, Steven R. 1960 births Living people American astronauts American computer scientists University of Colorado alumni Florida Atlantic University alumni Texas A&M University alumni People from Syracuse, New York Commanders of the International Space Station Engineers from New York (state) Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers