Sandra Hall Magnus (born October 30, 1964) 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 l ...

and a former

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 ...

. She returned to Earth with the crew of

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), ...

''Discovery'' on March 28, 2009, after having spent 134 days in orbit. She was assigned to the crew of

STS-135 STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter ''Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 la ...

, the final mission of the

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 ...

. She is also a licensed

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

operator with the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

KE5FYE. From 2012 until 2018 Magnus was the executive director of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

Biography

Early life and education

Magnus was born and raised in

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city and the county seat of St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The p ...

. She earned degrees in

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

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the University of Missouri–Rolla (now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology) before earning a PhD in materials science and engineering from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

in 1996. Research for her dissertation, entitled "An Investigation of the relationship between the

thermochemistry Thermochemistry is the study of the heat energy which is associated with chemical reactions and/or phase changes such as melting and boiling. A reaction may release or absorb energy, and a phase change may do the same. Thermochemistry focuses on ...

and emission behavior of

thermionic cathode In vacuum tubes and gas-filled tubes, a hot cathode or thermionic cathode is a cathode electrode which is heated to make it emit electrons due to thermionic emission. This is in contrast to a cold cathode, which does not have a heating element. ...

s based on the BaO-ScO-WO ternary system," was supported by a fellowship from the

NASA Lewis Research Center NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a subsidiary facilit ...

Engineering career

During the 1980s, Magnus worked on

stealth aircraft Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 N ...

design as an

for

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it produ ...

. She worked on the propulsion system for the

A-12 Avenger II The McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II was a proposed American attack aircraft from McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics. It was to be an all-weather, carrier-based stealth bomber replacement for the Grumman A-6 Intruder in t ...

until the project was canceled by the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

in 1991.

NASA career

Magnus was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996. Following training for two years from January 1997 until May 1998, Magnus was assigned to the Payloads/Habitability branch in the Astronaut office. Her work included coordinating with the European Space Agency and the Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and Brazil. In May 1998 she was assigned to work in Russia supporting payload hardware development and testing. In 2000 she was

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 the International Space Station.

STS-112

She flew her first space mission,

STS-112 STS-112 ( ISS assembly flight 9A) was an 11-day Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by . Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' was launched on 7 October 2002 at 19:45 UTC from the Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B to del ...

, in October 2002 as a mission specialist. The main objective of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''' mission was the installation of the S1 truss section on 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 ...

(ISS) and consumables delivery. Magnus operated the space station's robotic arm during the three spacewalks required to install and activate the S1 truss. The flight duration was 10 days 19 hours 58 minutes and 44 seconds.

Survival training

From January 29–31, 2006, together with Oleg Artemiev and Michael Barratt, Magnus took part in a two-day examination for the ability to survive in an uninhabited area in case of the Soyuz descent module making an emergency landing. She passed this examination in the forest near

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

NEEMO 11

From September 16–22, 2006, Magnus served as the commander of NASA's NEEMO 11 mission, an undersea expedition at the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

's Aquarius laboratory located off the coast of

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 ...

. With fellow astronaut/

aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as satura ...

Timothy Kopra Timothy Lennart "Tim" Kopra (born April 9, 1963) is an engineer, a Colonel in the United States Army and a retired NASA astronaut. He served aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, returning to Earth aboar ...

Robert Behnken Robert Louis Behnken (; born July 28, 1970, in St. Ann, Missouri) is a NASA astronaut, engineer, and former Chief of the Astronaut Office. Behnken holds a Ph.D in mechanical engineering and the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force, where he se ...

and Timothy Creamer, all of whom were training for possible assignment to missions to the International Space Station, Magnus imitated

moonwalk Moonwalk may refer to: Space travel * Moonwalk, an excursion on the Moon, see Moon landing ** For a specific event, see List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 ** For a specific person, see List of people who have walked on the Moon *Extrave ...

s, tested concepts for mobility using various

spacesuit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...

configurations and weights to simulate lunar

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

. Techniques for communication, navigation, geological sample retrieval, construction and using remote-controlled

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

s on the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

's surface also were tested. National Undersea Research Center support crew members Larry Ward and Roger Garcia provided

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

support inside the

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

Expedition 18

Magnus served as Flight Engineer on board the International Space Station as part of

Expedition 18 Expedition 18 was the 18th permanent crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The first two crew members, Michael Fincke, and Yuri Lonchakov were launched on 12 October 2008, aboard Soyuz TMA-13. With them was astronaut Sandra Magnus, who j ...

. Magnus was a Mission Specialist on

STS-126 STS-126 was the one hundred and twenty-fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and twenty-second orbital flight of the ''Space Shuttle Endeavour'' (OV-105) to the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of the mission, referred to as ULF2 by ...

for the trip to the station, which launched on November 14, 2008. She served as Mission Specialist on

when it returned on March 28, 2009. She logged 133 days in orbit and received warm greetings from NASA on her return. Her replacement,

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

astronaut

Koichi Wakata is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions, a Russian Soyuz mission, and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two-decade career in spaceflight, he has ...

, was launched aboard ''Discovery'' on March 15, 2009.

STS-135

On September 14, 2010, NASA announced Magnus to be one of four astronauts assigned to the STS-135 "launch on need" crew that was, if needed, to fly a rescue mission for

STS-134 STS-134 ( ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International ...

, which was originally the last scheduled shuttle flight. Other members assigned to that crew were commander

Christopher Ferguson Christopher J. "Fergy" Ferguson (born September 1, 1961) is a Boeing commercial astronaut and a retired United States Navy Captain and NASA astronaut. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' on his first mission to space, STS-115, which ...

, pilot

Douglas G. Hurley Douglas Gerald Hurley (born October 21, 1966) is an American engineer, former Marine Corps pilot and former NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-127 (July 2009) and STS-135 (July 2011), the final flight of the Space Shuttle pro ...

, and fellow mission specialist Rex J. Walheim. In January 2011, NASA added

to the manifest as the final space shuttle mission, scheduled to launch in July 2011; STS-134 was conducted successfully in May 2011, requiring no rescue flight. The mission launched successfully on 8 July 2011 and landed on July 21. In September 2012, Magnus became deputy

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

After NASA

In October 2012, Magnus left NASA Astronaut corps to become the executive director of the

(AIAA). She was the executive director until January 2018. From 2018 to 2019, Magnus was a principal at AstroPlanetView. In 2019, she became the deputy director for Engineering within the Office of the

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, abbreviated USD (R&E), is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The USD (R&E) is charged with the development and oversight of technology strategy for the DoD. T ...

, serving under former

NASA Administrator The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA, the national space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to ...

Michael Griffin. On February 9, 2021,

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company i ...

announced that Magnus would be joining their Space Advisory Board to help "provide advice to senior management as the company moves forward to open space for the benefit of all." Magnus will be joined by former astronaut Chris Hadfield and Chief Scientist of

Cubic Corporation Cubic Corporation is an American public transportation and defense corporation. It operates two business segments: Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS). History Cubic Corporation was founded i ...

David A. Whelan.

References

External links

* *
Spacefacts biography

"Spacebook," Dr. Magnus's blog during her 2008-9 mission aboard the ISS

NASA biography
October 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus, Sandra Hall 1964 births Living people Amateur radio people American astronauts Aquanauts Crew members of the International Space Station Women astronauts Georgia Tech alumni Missouri University of Science and Technology alumni People from Belleville, Illinois American women engineers Amateur radio women Space Shuttle program astronauts American electrical engineers Engineers from Illinois 21st-century American women