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Stephanie Diana Wilson (born 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an African American astronaut. She flew on her first mission in space onboard the NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-121, and is the second African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison.
Wilson's educational background includes: Taconic High School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1984); Harvard University (B.S. Engineering, 1988); University of Texas (M.S. Aerospace engineering, 1992).
Professional experience
After graduating from Harvard in 1988, Wilson worked for 2 years for the former Martin Marietta Astronautics Group in Denver, Colorado. As a Loads and Dynamics engineer for the Titan IV rocket, Wilson was responsible for performing coupled loads analyses for the launch vehicle and payloads during flight events. Wilson left Martin Marietta in 1990 to attend graduate school at the University of Texas. Her research focused on the control and modeling of large, flexible space structures. Following the completion of her graduate work, she began working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in 1992. As a member of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem for the Galileo spacecraft, Wilson was responsible for assessing attitude controller performance, science platform pointing accuracy, antenna pointing accuracy and spin rate accuracy. She worked in the areas of sequence development and testing as well. While at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wilson also supported the Interferometery Technology Program as a member of the Integrated Modeling Team, which was responsible for finite element modeling, controller design, and software development.
Selected by NASA in April 1996, Wilson reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, she is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. She was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch to work with Space Station payload displays and procedures. She then served in the Astronaut Office CAPCOM Branch, working in Mission Control as a prime communicator with on-orbit crews. Following her work in Mission Control, Wilson was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch involving the Space Shuttle Main Engines, External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters.
Space Flight Experience
Wilson went into space on STS-121, a return-to-flight test mission and assembly flight to the International Space Station which launched July 4, 2006.
External links
- This article incorporates text in the public domain from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
1966 births | African Americans | American astronauts | Living people | Women in space
"Stephanie Wilson"