Joe Acabá | |
|---|---|
 Acabá in 2008 | |
| Born | Joseph Michael Acabá (1967-05-17)May 17, 1967 (age 58) Inglewood, California, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Sergeant,USMCR |
Time in space | 306 days, 34 minutes |
| Selection | NASA Group 19 (2004) |
TotalEVAs | 3 |
Total EVA time | 19 hours, 46 minutes |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |      |
Joseph Michael Acabá (born May 17, 1967) is an Americaneducator,hydrogeologist, andNASAastronaut.[1][2] In May 2004, he became the first person ofPuerto Rican ancestry to be named as a NASA astronaut candidate, when he was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Training Group 19.[3] He completed his training on February 10, 2006, and was assigned toSTS-119, which flew from March 15 to 28, 2009, to deliver the final set ofsolar arrays to theInternational Space Station.[4] He is the first person ofCaribbean and Puerto Rican origin, and the twelfth of fifteen people ofIbero-american heritage to have flown to space as a NASA astronaut.[5]
Acabá served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station, having launched on May 15, 2012.[6] He arrived at the space station on May 17 and returned to Earth on September 17, 2012.[7] Acaba returned to the International Space Station in 2017 as a member ofExpedition 53/54.[8] In 2023, Acaba was appointed the 18thChief of the Astronaut Office.
Acaba's parents, Ralph and Elsie Acabá, fromHatillo, Puerto Rico, moved in the mid-1960s toInglewood, California, where he was born.[9] They later moved toAnaheim, California, where they still reside.[10]Since his childhood, Acaba enjoyed reading, especiallyscience fiction. In school, he excelled in both science and math. As a child, his parents constantly exposed him to educational films, but it was the 8-mm film showing astronautNeil Armstrong'sMoon landing that intrigued him aboutouter space. During his senior year in high school, Acaba became interested inscuba diving and became a certified scuba diver through a job training program at his school. This experience inspired him to further his academic education ingeology.[11] In 1985, he graduated with honors fromEsperanza High School in Anaheim.[1]
In 1990, Acaba received hisbachelor's degree ingeology from theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, and in 1992, he earned hismaster's degree in geology from theUniversity of Arizona. Acaba was asergeant in theUnited States Marine Corps Reserve where he served for six years. He also worked as a hydrogeologist inLos Angeles, California. Acaba spent two years in the United StatesPeace Corps and trained over 300 teachers in theDominican Republic in modern teaching methodologies. He then served as island manager of theCaribbean Marine Research at Lee Stocking Island in theExumas, Bahamas.[1]
Upon his return to the United States, Acaba moved toFlorida, where he became shoreline revegetation coordinator inVero Beach. He taught one year of science and math in high school and four years at Dunnellon Middle School.[1] He also briefly taught atMelbourne High School inMelbourne, Florida.[12] Upon his return to Florida in fall 2012, Acaba began coursework in theCollege of Education atTexas Tech University.[13][14] He earned hisMaster of Education, curriculum and instruction from Texas Tech University in 2015.[1]
On May 6, 2004, Acaba and ten other people were selected from 99 applicants by NASA as astronaut candidates. NASA's administrator, Sean O'Keefe, in the presence ofJohn Glenn, announced the members of the "19th group of Astronaut Candidates", an event which has not been repeated since 1958 when the original group of astronauts was presented to the world. Acaba, who was selected as an Educator Mission Specialist, completed his astronaut training on February 10, 2006, along with the other ten astronaut candidates.[1][15] Upon completion of his training, Acaba was assigned to the Hardware Integration Team in theInternational Space Station branch, working technical issues withEuropean Space Agency (ESA) hardware.[1][15]
Acaba was assigned to the crew ofSTS-119 as mission specialist educator, which was launched on March 15, 2009, at 7:43 p.m., after NASA engineers repaired a leaky gas venting system the previous week, to deliver the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station.[4][16] Acaba, who carried on his person aPuerto Rican flag, requested that the crew be awakened on March 19 (Day 5) with the Puerto Rico folklore song "Qué Bonita Bandera" (What a Beautiful Flag) referring to the Puerto Rican flag, written in 1971 byFlorencio Morales Ramos (Ramito)[17] and sung by Jose Gonzalez and Banda Criolla.[18][19]
On March 20, he provided support to the first mission spacewalk. On March 21, he performed a spacewalk withSteve Swanson in which he helped to successfully unfurl the final "wings" of the solar array that will augment power to the ISS. 2 days later, Acaba performed his second EVA of the mission, with crew memberRicky Arnold. The main task of the EVA was to help move the CETA carts outside of the station to a different location. On March 28 theSpace Shuttle Discovery and its seven-person crew safely touched down on runway 15 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:14 p.m. EDT. Acaba said he was amazed at the views from the space station.[20]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Joseph Michael "Joe" Acaba and Suni Williams aboard the ISS during a Space Station Social Media Event |
On May 15, 2012, Acaba was one of three crew members launching from Kazakhstan aboard theSoyuz TMA-04M spacecraft to the International Space Station.[21] He and his fellow crew members,Gennady Padalka andSergei Revin, arrived and docked with the space station two days after launch, on May 17 at 4:36UTC. Acaba, Padalka, and Revin returned to Earth on September 17, 2012, after nearly 125 days in space.[7][22]
Acaba served as the Branch Chief of the International Space Station Operations branch. The office is responsible for mission preparation and on-orbit support of space station crews.Until being selected as a flight engineer forExpedition 54\Expedition 55 Acaba served as Director of Operations Russia in Star City supporting crew training in Soyuz and Russian Segment systems.[1]
In September 2019 Acaba served as cavenaut[23] inESA CAVES[24] training (betweenItaly andSlovenia) spending six nights underground simulating a mission exploring another planet.[25]
In 2017 it was announced that Acaba would return to the ISS for his third mission, onboardSoyuz MS-06. The Soyuz vehicle was originally slated to launch with a crew of 2, due to the Russian crew cuts on the ISS for 2017, however, at short notice, it was decided that the 3rd seat would be filled by an experienced astronaut and would be funded by Roscosmos to cancel out owed debts. Acaba's backup for the mission wasShannon Walker, who was scheduled to fly as prime crew onSoyuz MS-12 as part ofExpedition 59/60,[26][8] although as of December 2018, she is not assigned to that crew[27]
Acaba launched onSoyuz MS-06 on September 12, 2017, performing a 6-hour rendezvous with the ISS. On October 20, 2017, Acaba andRandy Bresnik performed an EVA to continue with the lubrication of the new end effector on the robotic arm and to install new cameras. The duration was 6 hours and 49 minutes.[28] During the mission Acaba's home in Houston was flooded byHurricane Harvey andHurricane Maria struck his native Puerto Rico.[29]
| # | Spacecraft | Launch date (UTC) | Mission | Landing date (UTC) | Duration | EVAs | EVA duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Space Shuttle Discovery | March 15, 2009, 23:43 | STS-119 | March 28, 2009, 19:13 | 12d 19h 30m | 2 | 12h 57m |
| 2 | Soyuz TMA-04M | May 15, 2012, 03:01 | ISS-31 /ISS-32 | September 17, 2012, 02:52 | 124d 23h 51m | – | – |
| 3 | Soyuz MS-06 | September 12, 2017, 21:17 | ISS-53 /ISS-54 | February 28, 2018 | 168d 5h 14m | 1 | 6h 49m |
| 306d 34m | 3 | 19h 46m | |||||
In February 2023, Acaba becameChief of the Astronaut Office at NASA, replacing acting chiefDrew Feustel, who had been in the role sinceReid Wiseman stepped down in November 2022 to return to the pool of active astronauts eligible for flight assignments. Acaba is the first person of Hispanic heritage selected to lead the office responsible for assigning astronauts to missions and develop flight crew operation concepts.[31] As Chief of the Astronaut Office, Acaba has traveled to other countries such as Bangladesh with a goal of educating the populace and strengthening international relations.[32]
On March 18, 2008, Acaba was honored by theSenate of Puerto Rico, which sponsored his first trip to theCommonwealth of Puerto Rico since being selected for space flight.[33] During his visit, which was announced by then President of the Puerto Rican Senate,Kenneth McClintock, he met with schoolchildren at the Capitol, as well as at theBayamón, Puerto Rico Science Park, which includes a planetarium and several surplusNASA rockets among its exhibits.[34]
Acaba returned to Puerto Rico on June 1, 2009. During his visit, he was presented with a proclamation by GovernorLuis Fortuño. He spent seven days on the island and came into contact with over 10,000 persons, most of them schoolchildren.
He received theAna G. Mendez University System Presidential Medal and anHonorary Doctorate from thePolytechnic University of Puerto Rico,[35] where he inaugurated a flight simulator[36] on February 7, 2013, during one of his visits to Puerto Rico to promote the study of math and science among students, as well as to visit his relatives.Caras Magazine named him one of the most influential and exciting Puerto Ricans of 2012.[37][38]
| Preceded by | Chief of the Astronaut Office 2022–present | Incumbent |
NASA Astronaut Group 18 ← NASA Astronaut Group 19 →NASA Astronaut Group 20 | |||||||
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| Mission specialists | |||||||
| Educator mission specialists | |||||||
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