Christopher E. Gerty | |
|---|---|
 Chris Gerty | |
| Born | (1975-10-19)October 19, 1975 (age 49) East Moriches, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Clarkson University (BS) |
| Occupation | Aerospace engineer |
| Employer | NASA |
| Known for | Aquanaut |
| Title | Open Government Analyst, Engineer |
| Spouse | Maureen (Smith) Gerty |
Christopher E. Gerty (born October 19, 1975) is an Americanaerospace engineer who worked onNASA'sConstellation Program.[1] Gerty is an advocate of NASA'sOpen Government Initiative and is a leading voice on the concept of participatoryexploration and collaboration. He has fifteen years of experience working on complex,technology-intense projects at NASA.[2] Gerty served as anaquanaut on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 13 (NEEMO 13) crew.[1]
Gerty was born onLong Island inEast Moriches,New York. His father was aninsurance underwriter forMetropolitan Life. Gerty has one younger sister.[1][3]
Gerty's interest inspaceflight and NASA began at Gatelot Elementary inLake Ronkonkoma, New York. His fifth-grade teacher led his class through the investigation of theChallenger accident in 1986. Gerty's class learned not only about the causes of the accident, but what theSpace Shuttle did and why humans traveled inspace. To the ten-year-old Gerty, spaceflight seemed like a necessary and noble thing forhumans to do, even if there were some risks.[1]
After that experience in elementary school Gerty dreamed of being anastronaut when he grew up. Gerty attendedHilton High School nearRochester, New York, from 1989 to 1990 andNew Paltz High School,New Paltz, New York, from 1991 to 1993. He took upskiing while in Rochester andfloor androller hockey in New Paltz.[1][3]
Gerty attendedClarkson University inPotsdam, New York, earning aB.S. inComputer Engineering in 1997.[1] He playedintramuralice hockey while at Clarkson.[3] During his college years Gerty realized that flying in space was not his real goal, but rather helping humans explore and extend their sphere of influence to other worlds. One of the reasons he had chosen Clarkson was that it was part of aSpace Grant Consortium that received grants from NASA. Gerty knew that this program only affected graduate students, but that an undergraduate from any school could participate in a NASA cooperative education program.[1][3] Through Clarkson's career center he applied for and attained a cooperative education program position at NASA'sJohnson Space Center (JSC) inHouston, Texas, where he worked withprogrammers,pilots and spaceflight procedure writers. When Gerty finished several co-op tours and graduated, he knew he wanted to work for NASA, and accepted a job offer at JSC as aflight controller.[1]
Gerty's NASA experience includes positions as Robotics Division Engineering Co-op from 1996 to 1998; Aircraft Operations Co-op Engineer atEllington Field in 1997; and Payloads Flight Controller from 1998 to 2001. He served asExtravehicular Activity (EVA or spacewalk) Flight Controller and Crew Trainer in the EVA Systems group in Mission Operations from 2001 to 2006.[1][4] In that position he taught astronauts how to keep themselves alive and comfortable enough to perform their tasks while doing a spacewalk, or EVA. As part of this job he performed a simulated EVA in a NASAspacesuit at theNeutral Buoyancy Laboratory. After "spacewalking" underwater, he had a new appreciation for the difficulty of the construction of theInternational Space Station (ISS) and the skills of the astronauts who performed ISS construction.[1]
After his time in the EVA group, in 2006 Gerty became aConstellation Program Systems Integration Engineer, helping plan forlunar missions. He worked with a group defining requirements for what humans need to live and work on the surface of theMoon. The planning covered not only short missions like those of theApollo program, but long-term missions taking up half a year or more, and covered not only EVAs, but solving the problems of habitation andphysiological problems as well. To do this, the group examined the past Apollo missions, long-durationExpeditions to the ISS, and "spaceflight analog missions" likeNEEMO, which in many ways simulate a mission to the Moon. In Gerty's words: "NASA has questions like, 'What is the best way forrobots and humans to work together on the lunar orMartian surface?', or 'How much room do astronauts need to live and work in 1/6 of theEarth'sgravity, compared to thezero-gravity on the ISS?'"[1]
In August 2007, Gerty served asMission Specialist No. 3 during theNEEMO 13 project, an exploration research mission held inAquarius, the world's onlyundersea research laboratory. He served as a liaison for the Constellation Program, living underwater for ten days to study the effects of long-duration spaceflight and test lunar and Martian exploration concepts.[1][2][5] Gerty wrote:
Spacewalks are very analogous todiving in theocean. In both situations you need a supply ofoxygen to breathe, relative control ofpressure andtemperature, a means of moving around in a three-dimensional environment, and protection from the hazards ... The results [of NEEMO 13] will be used to make us more prepared when it is time to put a few more footprints and tire tracks on the moon, and eventually realize the goal of extending the human race to otherplanets![1]
Since 2010, Gerty has been an Open Government Analyst at NASA.[4] He has ablog located athttp://open.nasa.gov/blog/author/cgerty/.[2]
Gerty is married to Maureen (Smith) Gerty ofSaratoga Springs, New York, achemical engineer whom he met while in college. They have twoGerman Shepherds and acat. Gerty's hobbies includebicycling,photography,computers,ice hockey,astronomy,camping andtraveling.[1][3] He is a member of theAmerican Astronautical Society and has taken part inRandom Hacks of Kindness.[4][6]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
