Tracy Caldwell Dyson | |
|---|---|
 Caldwell Dyson in 2023 | |
| Born | Tracy Ellen Caldwell (1969-08-14)August 14, 1969 (age 56) Arcadia, California, U.S |
| Education | California State University, Fullerton (BS) University of California, Davis (MS,PhD) |
| Spouse | George Dyson |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 372 days 18 hours and 36 minutes |
| Selection | NASA Group 17 (1998) |
TotalEVAs | 4 |
Total EVA time | 23 hours and 20 minutes |
| Missions | STS-118 Soyuz TMA-18 (Expedition 23/24) Soyuz MS-25 (Expedition 70/71) |
Mission insignia |      |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physical chemistry |
| Thesis | A Mechanistic and Kinetic Study of Heterocycle and Cyclization Chemistry on Pd(111) Using Laser-Induced Thermal Desorption with Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry (1997) |
Tracy Caldwell Dyson (bornTracy Ellen Caldwell; August 14, 1969) is an Americanchemist andNASAastronaut. She was a mission specialist onSpace ShuttleEndeavour flightSTS-118 in August 2007 and has participated in two long-duration missions to theInternational Space Station,Expedition 23 and24 from April to September 2010 andExpedition 70 and71 from March to September 2024. She has completed four spacewalks, logging nearly 24 hours ofextravehicular activity.
Caldwell Dyson was born inArcadia, California.[1] She is the younger of two girls. In the early 1980s, she and her family moved toBeaumont, California, where her father worked as an electrician and where she attended junior high school and high school.[2] Her recreational interests includerunning,weight training,hiking,softball,basketball, andauto repair and maintenance.[citation needed]
She attendedCalifornia State University, Fullerton, where she competed on theCSUF Titans' track and field team as a sprinter and long jumper.[3]
As an undergraduate researcher at California State University, Fullerton, she designed, constructed and implemented electronics and hardware associated with a laser-ionization,time-of-flight mass spectrometer for studying atmospherically relevantgas-phase chemistry.[4][5] She also worked as a lab assistant in the university's research and instructional safety office, where she performed environmental monitoring of laboratories using hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials and calibrated survey instruments and helped process chemical and radioactive waste. During college and after it, she also worked as an electrician and inside wireman for her father's electrical contracting company, where she performed commercial and light industrial construction.[1]
At theUniversity of California, Davis, Caldwell Dyson taught general chemistry laboratory and began her graduate research. Her dissertation work focused on investigating molecular-levelsurface reactivity and kinetics of metal surfaces usingelectron spectroscopy,laser desorption, andFourier transform mass spectrometry techniques.[6] She also designed and built peripheral components for a variable temperature, ultra-high vacuumscanning tunneling microscopy system.[1]
In 1997, Caldwell Dyson received the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellowship in Environmental Science to studyatmospheric chemistry at theUniversity of California, Irvine.[7] There, she investigated reactivity and kinetics of atmospherically relevant systems using atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet absorption spectroscopies. In addition, she developed methods of chemical ionization for spectral interpretation of trace compounds. Caldwell Dyson has published and presented her work in numerous papers at technical conferences and in scientific journals.[1]
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In June 1998, Caldwell Dyson was selected byNASA, and began NASA training two months later, in August 1998. Her astronaut candidate training included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle andInternational Space Station (ISS) systems, physiological training, ground school to prepare forT-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques. Completion of this training and evaluation qualified her for flight assignment as a mission specialist.
In 1999, Caldwell Dyson was assigned to the Astronaut Office ISS Operations Branch as a Russian Crusader, participating in the testing and integration of Russian hardware and software products developed for ISS. In 2000, she was assigned prime crew support astronaut for the ISSExpedition 5 crew, serving as their representative on technical and operational issues throughout the training and on-orbit phase of their mission. During ISS Expeditions 4 through 6, Caldwell Dyson served as an ISS spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) inside Mission Control. In 2003, she made a transition to the Astronaut Shuttle Operations Branch and was assigned to flight software verification in theShuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and worked supporting launch and landing operations atKennedy Space Center, Florida. Caldwell Dyson also served as Lead CAPCOM forExpedition 11.
Between her second and third flights, Caldwell Dyson continued to work inside Houston’s Mission Control Center as CAPCOM for both space shuttle and space station operations, serving as the lead CAPCOM for various ISS missions, including the lead and development of the CAPCOM cadre forBoeing Starliner Mission Operations team. She was also the ground IV for US EVA 32, performed byScott Kelly andKjell Lindgren.
Caldwell Dyson initiated and led several projects to improve training and operations aboard the ISS, most notably developing the EVA Qualification training flow (EVQ) for astronaut candidates.
As Tracy Dyson, she is the host of a series onNASA TV calledStationLife, which focuses on facets of life aboard the International Space Station.[8]
On March 21, 2017, Caldwell Dyson stood behindPresident Trump as he signed a bill forNASA to send humans toMars in the 2030s and receive $19.5 billion in 2018 funding. Caldwell Dyson and fellow NASA astronautChris Cassidy presented Trump with an official flight jacket during the ceremony.[9]
Caldwell Dyson was assigned toSTS-118 on May 17, 2006. It was announced that she would serve as mission specialist 1 on the first flight of Space ShuttleEndeavour after theColumbia disaster.
On August 8, 2007, Caldwell Dyson lifted off for the first time on the 119th Space Shuttle flight, the 22nd flight to the station, and the 20th flight forEndeavour. During the mission, she successfully added another truss segment, a new gyroscope and external spare parts platform to the International Space Station. A new system that enables docked shuttles to draw electrical power from the station to extend visits to the outpost was activated successfully. A total of four spacewalks (EVAs) were performed by three crew members.Endeavour carried some 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station and returned to Earth with some 4,000 pounds of hardware and no-longer-needed equipment. Traveling 5.3 million miles in space, the STS-118 mission was completed in 12 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes and 34 seconds. On day 7 of the flight of STS-118, Caldwell-Dyson celebrated her 38th birthday.
Caldwell Dyson was assigned for her second space flight on November 21, 2008. Her second space mission consisted of a six-month trip to theInternational Space Station.[11]
Caldwell Dyson successfully lifted off on April 2, 2010, from theBaikonur spaceport on board theSoyuz TMA-18 as Flight Engineer 2 with Soyuz CommanderAleksandr Skvortsov and Flight Engineer 1Mikhail Korniyenko. Following a two-day rendezvous and docking maneuver with theISS, she joinedExpedition 23 as a flight engineer and transferred on June 2, 2010, toExpedition 24 again as a flight engineer after the departure of theSoyuz TMA-17.
During the first half of her flight, Caldwell Dyson and theExpedition 23 crew were joined by theSTS-131 crew from April 7 to April 17. This period was the first and only time that four women were together on board the same spacecraft: Caldwell Dyson, NASA astronautsStephanie Wilson andDorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, and JAXA astronautNaoko Yamazaki. From May 16 to May 23, the second and last Space Shuttle visiting mission for Caldwell-Dyson's flight,STS-132, joined theExpedition 23 crew for the installation of the Russian-built moduleRassvet.
The second half of Caldwell Dyson's mission was marked by the failure of a coolant pump at the beginning of August. Caldwell Dyson performed her first spacewalk on August 7, 2010, with NASA astronautDouglas Wheelock. The task for this first of three contingencyEVAs was to prepare the malfunctioning coolant pump for replacement on the next spacewalks; this took place on August 11, 2010, and August 16, 2010. She performed all of this contingency EVA.[12]
After 176 days, 1 hour, 18 minutes and 38 seconds in space, Caldwell Dyson landed inKazakhstan on September 25, 2010.[13] During this spaceflight, she completed three spacewalks, logging 22 hrs and 49 minutes of EVA work to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump.[12]
Caldwell Dyson returned to flight training as a backup crew member for theSoyuz MS-24.[14] She backed up her NASA astronaut colleagueLoral O'Hara.[14] She was officially assigned to theSoyuz MS-25 in 2023.[14]
Her first attempt to launch on the Soyuz MS-25 mission on March 21, 2024 was aborted with 20 seconds left before lift-off.[15] The scrub occurred because of a low voltage reading in the Soyuz rocket electrical system.[15] She launched on March 23, 2024 withRoscosmos cosmonautOleg Novitsky and Belarusian cosmonautMarina Vasilevskaya.[16] After a two-day rendezvous profile, the Soyuz crew docked with International Space Station'sPrichal module on March 25, 2024. The first weeks of her mission dealt with theSpaceX CRS-30 mission, as well as viewing the total eclipse above North America on April 8, 2024[17] and the redocking ofSpaceX Crew-8 in early May.
Starting in mid-May, Expedition 71 crew focused themselves on the preparation for the three planned EVAs. During this period, the crew checked out EMUs, tools, and reviewed procedures. They also performed maintenance tasks around station as well as continued scientific work.
On June 6, Caldwell Dyson saw the arrival of the first crewed mission ofStarliner. The Starliner crew was composed ofBarry Wilmore andSunita Williams. Caldwell Dyson monitored the arrival of Starliner alongsideMatthew Dominick and helped the Starliner crew to accomplish their test flight objectives including testing the spacecraft habitability for four crew members and its capability as a safe haven in case of an emergency.
On June 24, Caldwell Dyson participated as a crew member for EVA 90 withMichael Barratt. Unfortunately, this EVA ended early due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit on Caldwell-Dyson’s spacesuit. The leak came from the SCU when Caldwell-Dyson disconnected her SCU from her EMU after she switched to battery power. The total EVA time was only 31 minutes.
All of their EVAs were postponed to a later date after the incident, and Expedition 71 remained focused on their scientific work, cargo vehicle traffic, and maintenance tasks. More specifically, they saw the departure ofCygnus NG-20 named after Dyson's classmate:Patricia Hilliard Robertson on July 12th and the arrival ofCygnus NG-21 -Francis Scobee on August 6th.
Caldwell Dyson spent six months on the station and returned on September 23, 2024 withOleg Kononenko andNikolai Chub on the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft.[16]
Caldwell Dyson is a private pilot. She is conversational inAmerican Sign Language andRussian.[4][18]
She is also the lead vocalist for the all-astronaut bandMax Q.[19]
In 2011, Caldwell Dyson served as the guest judge on a space-themed episode of theFood Network showCupcake Wars.[20] She appeared on Episode 3 ofMasterChef Junior Season 4.[21]
Caldwell Dyson advisedJessica Chastain when the actress was preparing to appear as an astronaut and mission commander in the 2015 movieThe Martian. Chastain said she was very inspired by Caldwell Dyson.[22]
Caldwell Dyson is a member ofSigma Xi Research Society and theAmerican Chemical Society.[23]
Caldwell Dyson is married toU.S. Naval aviator George Dyson.[24]
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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 16 ← NASA Astronaut Group 17 →NASA Astronaut Group 18 | |||||||
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| Mission specialists | |||||||
| International mission specialists |
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