Anne McClain | |
|---|---|
.jpg) McClain in 2024 | |
| Born | Anne Charlotte McClain (1979-06-07)June 7, 1979 (age 46) Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Defense Superior Service Medal |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Colonel,US Army |
Time in space | 351 days, 7 hours and 45 minutes |
| Selection | NASA Group 21 (2013) |
TotalEVAs | 3 |
Total EVA time | 18 hours, 52 minutes[1] |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |      |
Anne Charlotte McClain (born June 7, 1979) is acolonel in theUnited States Army,engineer, and aNASA astronaut.[2] Hercall sign, "Annimal", dates back to her rugby career;[3] she also uses the call sign in herTwitter handle, AstroAnnimal. She was a flight engineer forExpedition 58/59 andExpedition 72/73 to theInternational Space Station.
Born and raised inSpokane, Washington,[2][4] McClain wanted to become an astronaut at a young age.[5] In 1997, McClain graduated fromGonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane.[2][6] She did a brief stint at Spokane Community College where she played softball and enrolled in R.O.T.C. at Gonzaga University, waiting on an appointment to theUnited States Military Academy, West Point, where she earned a bachelor's degree inmechanical engineering and was commissioned as an army officer in 2002.[2] She then attended theUniversity of Bath, where she earned a master's degree inaerospace engineering in 2004, and theUniversity of Bristol, where she earned a master's degree ininternational relations in 2005.[7] Both master's degrees were completed through aMarshall Scholarship.[2] Her work on unsteady aerodynamics and flow visualization of free-to-roll non-slender delta wings was later published through theAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.[2]
McClain traveled to Africa for eight weeks withOperation Crossroads Africa, working on a construction project in Uganda.[8]
McClain is an avidrugby player who has played in theWomen's Premiership, the top level of the sport inEngland, and for theUnited States women's national rugby union team, known as the Women's Eagles.[7] While her U.S. Army commitments thwarted her international career in rugby and prevented her participation in the2006 Women's Rugby World Cup, she participated at that level for a decade interrupted only by her deployment to Iraq,[7] and credits the sport for her success in becoming an astronaut.[9]
According to an interview published on theNASA Johnson YouTube channel, McClain said that the rugby training was helpful when training with aspace suit in aneutral buoyancy pool.[10]
Following her studies, McClain qualified as aBell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilot. She was deployed to the 2nd Battalion,6th Cavalry Regiment atWheeler Army Airfield,Hawaii. McClain rose through the ranks, starting as an Air Traffic Control Platoon Leader, Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Platoon Leader, to Detachment Commander.[2]
McClain was deployed to the Persian Gulf and flew 800 hours and 216 combat missions during the 15 months deployment as part ofOperation Iraqi Freedom.[7][2]
In 2009, McClain participated in Aviation Captain's Career Course and was then assigned to 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment atFort Rucker as the battalion operations officer and OH-58D instructor. In May 2010, she was appointed Commander of C Troop, 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment, responsible for the Army's initial entry training, instructor pilot training, and maintenance test pilot training in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. She completed Command and General Staff College and the C-12 fixed wing multiengine qualification courses in 2011 and 2012.[2]
She also served as a command squadron intelligence officer.[7] McClain graduated from theNaval Test Pilot School in June 2013.[2] In total, McClain has logged over 2,000 hours on various aircraft type including the Kiowa Warrior, theBeechcraft C-12 Huron, theSikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, and theEurocopter UH-72 Lakota.[2]
In June 2013, the same month as her graduation as a test pilot, McClain was selected byNASA as part ofAstronaut Group 21, becoming the youngest astronaut on the NASA roster, at 34 years old.[11] She completed training in July 2015, making her available for future missions.[12] She flew to theInternational Space Station in December 2018 and returned to Earth in June 2019. On December 9, 2020, McClain was announced as one of NASA'sArtemis astronauts.
For her first spaceflight assignment, McClain was assigned to as flight engineer to ISSExpedition 60/61, scheduled for launch aboardSoyuz MS-13 in June–July 2019, although in January 2018, NASA astronautJeanette Epps was removed from the prime crew ofExpedition 56/57, resulting in her backup,Serena Aunon-Chancellor taking her place on the flight. Due to this, McClain was moved up to take Aunon-Chancellor's spot on the Expedition 56/57 backup crew, and, in turn, was assigned to the prime crew ofExpedition 58/Expedition 59,[13] alongside Russian cosmonautOleg Kononenko andCanadian astronautDavid Saint-Jacques.[14]
The Expedition 58/59 trio launched aboardSoyuz MS-11 to theInternational Space Station at 06.32 ET (11.32 GMT) on December 3, 2018, from theCosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch was originally scheduled for December 20, 2018, but was rescheduled to the earlier date after the failure ofSoyuz MS-10 with Expedition 57/58 on October 11, 2018. The crew successfully rendezvoused with the ISS six hours later, spending just over two weeks with theExpedition 57 crew, whose landing had been delayed due to the aborted launch of MS-10.
On March 22, 2019, McClain andNick Hague performed their firstspacewalk to install the adapter plates whileDextre swaps the batteries between spacewalks. Theextravehicular activity (EVA) lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes. They also removed debris from theUnity module in preparation for the arrival ofCygnus NG-11 in April, stowing tools for the repair of the flex hose rotary coupler, and securing tiebacks on the solar array blanket boxes.[15]
_Anne_McClain_takes_a_space-selfie.jpg)
McClain was scheduled to perform a second EVA on March 29, withChristina Koch, which would have been the first all-female spacewalk,[16] but spacesuit sizing issues resulted in this EVA's being reassigned to Hague and Koch.[17][18] McClain conducted a second spacewalk with Saint-Jacques on April 8.[19]
McClain, Saint-Jacques, and Kononenko returned to Earth on board Soyuz MS-11 on June 24, 2019.[20]
McClain was selected as commander for theSpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station alongside pilotNichole Ayers and mission specialistsTakuya Onishi andKirill Peskov. The flight was launched on 14 March 2025.[21]
McClain is a recipient of theDefense Superior Service Medal, theLegion of Merit,Bronze Star Medal, theAir Medal withValor device, two additional Air Medals, twoArmy Commendation Medals, twoArmy Achievement Medals, theIraq Campaign Medal with two service stars, theGlobal War on Terrorism Service Medal, and threeOverseas Service Ribbons.[2] She has also received an honorary Doctorate in Engineering from theUniversity of Bath.[22]
McClain married Summer Worden in 2014[23][24] and became stepmother to Worden's son. McClain and Worden divorced in 2019.[23] On August 23, 2019,The New York Times reported that Worden filed a complaint against McClain through theFederal Trade Commission accusing her of illegally accessing financial information while residing in the International Space Station.[23][24][25] This accusationouted McClain as a member of theLGBTQ community, making her the third known LGBT astronaut afterSally Ride[26] andWendy B. Lawrence.[27] The claims were later found to be false, and McClain was cleared.[28] On April 7, 2020, Worden was indicted on two charges ofmaking false statements.[29]
McClain resides in suburbanHouston, Texas.[30][31]
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.Whiting, Melanie (October 3, 2018)."Anne C. McClain (Col, U.S. Army) NASA Astronaut".nasa.gov.NASA. RetrievedDecember 5, 2018.
People currently inlow Earth orbit | |||||
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| International Space Station (Expedition 73) |
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| Tiangong (Expedition 9) |
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NASA Astronaut Group 20 ← NASA Astronaut Group 21 →NASA Astronaut Group 22 | |||||||
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