Jay Apt | |
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| Born | Jerome Apt III (1949-04-28)April 28, 1949 (age 75) Springfield,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS,PhD) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 35d 7h 10min |
| Selection | NASA Group 11 (1985) |
| Missions | STS-37 STS-47 STS-59 STS-79 |
Mission insignia |     |
Jerome "Jay"Apt III (born April 28, 1949) is an Americanastronaut and professor atCarnegie Mellon University. Before becoming an astronaut, Apt was aphysicist who worked on the PioneerVenus 1978 space probe project, and usedvisible light and infrared techniques to study the planets and moons of the solar system from ground-based observatories.
Apt was a resident of Shadyside[1] and graduated fromShady Side Academy inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967.[2] He went on to attendHarvard University, earning aBachelor of Arts inphysics in 1971.[2] He then attended theMassachusetts Institute of Technology and earned aDoctor of Philosophy in physics in 1976.[2] From 1976 to 1980 he was a staff member of the Center for Earth & Planetary Physics at Harvard, and served as the Assistant Director of Harvard's Division of Applied Sciences from 1978 to 1980. In 1980 he joined the Earth and Space Sciences Division of theNASAJet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a scientist doing planetary research; he was science manager of the optical facilities at JPL's Table Mountain Observatory. From 1982 through 1985 he was a flight controller responsible for Shuttle payload operations at NASA'sJohnson Space Center. He worked in the mission control center on missions STS-7, STS-8, STS-41B, STS-41C, STS-41D, STS-41G, STS-51A, and STS-51D (the last four as Payload Officer). In 1985 he was selected as an astronaut candidate, and qualified to become an astronaut after a year of training. He has over 7,000 hours piloting aircraft, has flown on four space missions and has logged over 847 hours in space.
In 1991, Apt flew on theSTS-37 mission aboardshuttleAtlantis.[3] He made twospacewalks withJerry Ross, manually deploying theCompton Gamma Ray Observatory's radio antenna when it failed to do so automatically; on the next day their second spacewalk tested hardware later used on the International Space Station. During the second Extra Vehicular Activity the palm-bar in Apt's right glove punctured the suit.[4] Apt's hand conformed to the puncture, filling the hole before any noticeable depressurization could occur. Apt was unaware of the puncture until the glove was examined after the mission. Despite being partially exposed to vacuum he sustained only a minor scar. In 1992, Apt flew onSTS-47 aboardshuttleEndeavour as the flight engineer,[5] and commander of one of the two shifts in this round-the-clock mission. In 1994, Apt was again a shift commander of the first Space Radar Laboratory mission,STS-59 aboard shuttleEndeavour.[6] This lab studied theEarth. In 1996, Apt flew onSTS-79 aboard shuttleAtlantis and visited the RussianMir space station.[7]
In 2003, Apt joined the faculty ofCarnegie Mellon University where he is a Full Professor (emeritus) at theTepper School of Business and the Department ofEngineering and Public Policy. His research and teaching interests are in economics, engineering, and public policy aspects of the electricity industry, economics of technical innovation, management of technical enterprises, risk management in policy and technical decision framing, and engineering systems design. From 2000 through 2022 he and faculty memberGranger Morgan directed theCarnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center. He has supervised 23 Ph.D. students, 18 as sole advisor.[8]
He is the author of the bookOrbit: NASA Astronauts Photograph the Earth, published by the National Geographic Society. The book has been printed in eleven languages; more than 600,000 copies have been sold. His bookVariable Renewable Energy and the Electricity Grid was published in 2014. He is the author of a large number of technical scientific publications.[9] He received theNASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1997 and the Metcalf Lifetime Achievement Award for significant contributions to engineering in 2002. His paper with PhD student Adam Newcomer, "Near term implications of a ban on new coal-fired power plants in the US" was cited as one of the top environmental policy papers of 2009 by theAmerican Chemical Society. In 2012, the International Astronomical Union approved the name "Jeromeapt" for the main-belt asteroid116903, as suggested by its discoverer,James Young. Apt is a Fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science.
Apt has two children.
Media related toJerome Apt at Wikimedia Commons
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