Stephen Nathaniel Frick (born September 30, 1964) is an American astronaut and a veteran of two

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 ...

missions. Raised in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, Frick graduated from

Pine-Richland High School Pine-Richland High School is a large public high school located at 700 Warrendale Road, in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the only high school in the Pine-Richland School District and is located in Pine Township. In the 2018–2 ...

in 1982, earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

in 1986, was commissioned as a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

officer, and trained as an

F/A-18 The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...

fighter pilot. Stationed aboard the carrier , he flew combat missions during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

and then earned a master's degree in

aeronautical 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 sim ...

from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994. Frick was selected as a

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 candidate in 1996 and was trained as a Space Shuttle pilot. He piloted mission

STS-110 STS-110 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 8–19 April 2002 flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. The main purpose was to install the S0 Truss segment, which forms the backbone of the truss structure on the ...

, a docking mission with 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 ( ...

. In July 2006, Frick was assigned to command the crew of

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 ...

. The 12-day mission delivered the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory and returned

Expedition 16 Expedition 16 was the 16th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). The first two crew members, Yuri Malenchenko and Peggy Whitson, launched on 10 October 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-11, and were joined by spaceflight participant Shei ...

Flight Engineer

Daniel M. Tani Daniel M. Tani (born February 1, 1961) is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He was born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown. With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on ...

to Earth. The mission launched February 7, 2008, and touched down February 20, 2008. NASA announced his retirement in July 2015.

Awards and decorations

Distinguished Flying Cross;

Defense Meritorious Service Medal The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) is an award bestowed upon members of the United States military by the United States Department of Defense. In the order of precedence of the United States Armed Forces, it is worn between the Purple ...

; 3

Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

s, one with Combat V;

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

with 2 Strike-Flight awards; 2 Southwest Asia Service Medals;

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...

; NASA Spaceflight Medal

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Stephen Frick
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Stephen 1964 births Living people United States Navy astronauts Military personnel from Pittsburgh People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania United States Naval Academy alumni Naval Postgraduate School alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni United States Navy captains United States Naval Aviators American aerospace engineers United States Navy personnel of the Gulf War Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal Pine-Richland High School alumni Engineers from Pennsylvania Space Shuttle program astronauts