Terrence Wilcutt | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Terrence Wade Wilcutt (1949-10-31)October 31, 1949 (age 76) Russellville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Education | Western Kentucky University (BA) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Colonel,USMC |
Time in space | 42d 0h 5m |
| Selection | NASA Group 13 (1990) |
| Missions | STS-68 STS-79 STS-89 STS-106 |
Mission insignia |     |
Terrence Wade Wilcutt (born October 31, 1949) is aUnited States Marine Corps officer and a formerNASAastronaut. He is a veteran of fourSpace Shuttle missions. Wilcutt was NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance, until his retirement from NASA in December 2020.[1]
Born October 31, 1949, inRussellville, Kentucky, but raised inLouisville, Kentucky, Wilcutt graduated fromSouthern High School in 1967; and earned aBachelor of Arts degree inmathematics in 1974 fromWestern Kentucky University where he was a member of theLambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He then taught high school math for two years before entering theUnited States Marine Corps.
He was commissioned in 1976 and earned hisaviator wings in 1978. Following initialF-4 Phantom training with squadronVMFAT-101, he reported toVMFA-235 atMarine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay,Hawaii. While assigned to VMFA-235, Wilcutt attended the U.S.Navy Fighter Weapons School ("TOPGUN"), and made two overseas deployments to Japan,Korea, and thePhilippines. In 1983 he was selected forF/A-18 conversion training, and served as an F/A-18 Fighter Weapons and Air Combat Maneuvering Instructor withVFA-125,Naval Air Station Lemoore,California. In 1986, Wilcutt was selected to attend theU.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Following graduation, he was assigned as atest pilot/project officer for Strike Aircraft Test Directorate (SATD) at theNaval Air Test Center,NAS Patuxent River,Maryland. While assigned to SATD, Wilcutt flew the F/A-18 Hornet, theA-7 Corsair II, the F-4 Phantom, and various other aircraft while serving in a wide variety of projects and classified programs.
He has over 6,600 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.
Wilcutt was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1990; he piloted missionsSTS-68 (1994) andSTS-79 (1996). Wilcutt commanded missionSTS-89 (1998) to theMir space station andSTS-106 (2000) to theInternational Space Station.
Wilcutt served as director of safety and mission assurance at NASA'sJohnson Space Center in Houston where he was tasked with the Safety Technical Authority of the programs and projects at JSC as well as JSC's Institutional Safety program. Since Sept 1, 2011, Wilcutt has served as NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance. He was responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of all safety and mission assurance policies and procedures for all NASA programs. He retired from NASA on December 31, 2020.[1]
STS-68Endeavour (September 30 to October 11, 1994) was part of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. STS-68, Space Radar Lab-2 (SRL-2), was the second flight of three advanced radars called SIR-C/X-SAR (Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar), and a carbon-monoxide pollution sensor, MAPS (Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellites). SIR-C/X-SAR and MAPS operated together in Endeavour's cargo bay to study Earth's surface and atmosphere, creating radar images of Earth's surface environment and mapping global production and transport of carbon monoxide pollution. Real-time crew observations of environmental conditions, along with over 14,000 photographs, aided the science team in interpreting the SRL data. The SRL-2 mission was a highly successful test of technology intended for long-term environmental and geological monitoring of planet Earth. STS-68 launched fromKennedy Space Center,Florida, and landed atEdwards Air Force Base,California. Mission duration was 11 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, traveling 4.7 million miles in 183 orbits of the Earth.
STS-79Atlantis (September 16–26, 1996), the fourth in the joint American-Russian Shuttle-Mir series of missions, launched from and returned to land at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-79 rendezvoused with the RussianMir space station and ferried supplies, personnel, and scientific equipment to this base 240 miles above the Earth. The crew transferred over 3.5 tons of supplies to and from the Mir and exchanged U.S. astronauts on Mir for the first time – leavingJohn Blaha and bringingShannon Lucid home after her record six months stay aboard Mir. Mission duration was 10 days, 3 hours, 18 minutes, traveling 3.9 million miles in 159 orbits of the Earth.
STS-89Endeavour (January 22–31, 1998), was the eighth Shuttle-Mir docking mission during which the crew transferred more than 9,000 pounds of scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from Space ShuttleEndeavour to Mir. In the fifth and last exchange of a U.S. astronaut, STS-89 deliveredAndy Thomas to Mir and returned withDavid Wolf. Mission duration was 8 days, 19 hours and 47 seconds, traveling 3.6 million miles in 138 orbits of the Earth.
STS-106Atlantis (September 8–20, 2000) was a 12-day mission during which the crew successfully prepared theInternational Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. The five astronauts and twocosmonauts delivered more than 6,600 pounds of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, life support, andexercise equipment on the Space Station. Two crew members performed aspace walk in order to connect power, data and communications cables to the newly arrivedZvezda Service Module and the Space Station. STS-106 orbited the Earth 185 times, and covered 4.9 million miles in 11 days, 19 hours, and 10 minutes.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NASA Astronaut Group 12 ← NASA Astronaut Group 13 →NASA Astronaut Group 14 | |||||||
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