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Jerry Linenger | |
|---|---|
 Lineger in 1995 | |
| Born | Jerry Michael Linenger (1955-01-16)January 16, 1955 (age 71) Eastpointe, Michigan, U.S. |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) Wayne State University (MD) University of Southern California (MS) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (MPH,PhD) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Captain,USN |
Time in space | 143d 2h 50m |
| Selection | NASA Group 14 (1992) |
TotalEVAs | 1 (during Mir EO-23) |
Total EVA time | 4h, 59m |
| Missions | STS-64 STS-81/84 (Mir EO-22/23) |
Mission insignia |      |
Jerry Michael Linenger (born January 16, 1955) is a retiredCaptain in theUnited States Navy Medical Corps, and a formerNASAastronaut who flew on theSpace Shuttle andSpace StationMir.
Born January 16, 1955, and raised inEast Detroit, Michigan. Linenger graduated fromEast Detroit High School 1973. He received aBachelor of Science degree inbioscience from theUnited States Naval Academy in 1977, adoctorate inmedicine fromWayne State University School of Medicine in 1981, aMaster of Science degree insystems management from theUniversity of Southern California in 1988, aMaster of Public Health degree inhealth policy from theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989 and aDoctor of Philosophy degree inepidemiology from the University of North Carolina in 1989.
Linenger is a member of theAlumni Associations of the U.S. Naval Academy, University of Southern California, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and University of North Carolina, theAssociation of Naval Aviation, the U.S. Navy Flight Surgeons Association, theAerospace Medicine Association, theAmerican Medical Association, theAmerican College of Preventive Medicine, the Society of U.S. Navy Preventive Medicine Officers, and theAmerican College of Sports Medicine. He is board-certified inpreventive medicine.
Linenger graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and proceeded directly tomedical school. After completing hissurgical internship training atBalboa Naval Hospital,San Diego, California, andaerospace medicine training at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute,Pensacola, Florida, he served as a navalflight surgeon atNaval Air Station Cubi Point in thePhilippines. He was then assigned as medical advisor to theCommander, Naval Air Forces,U.S. Pacific Fleet, San Diego. After completing doctorate-level training inepidemiology, Linenger returned to San Diego as a research principal investigator at the Naval Health Research Center. He concurrently served as a faculty member at theUniversity of California, San Diego School of Medicine in the Division ofSports Medicine.
Linenger joined astronaut selectionGroup 14 at theJohnson Space Center in August 1992. He flew onSTS-64 (September 9–20, 1994) aboard theSpace ShuttleDiscovery. Mission highlights included: first use oflasers forenvironmental research, deployment and retrieval of a solar sciencesatellite,robotic processing ofsemiconductors, use of anRMS-attached boom forjetthruster research, first untetheredspacewalk in 10 years to test a self-rescuejetpack. In completing his first mission, Linenger logged 10 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes in space, completed 177 orbits, and traveled over 4.5 million miles.
Following his first mission, in January 1995, he began training at theGagarin Cosmonaut Training Center inStar City, Russia, in preparation for a long-duration stay aboard the RussianSpace StationMir.[1] All training was conducted using theRussian language, and consisted of learning all Mir space station systems (life support/electrical/communication/attitude control/computer systems),simulator training,Soyuz launch/return vehicle operations, and spacewalk water tank training. He also trained as chief scientist to conduct the entire United States science program, consisting of over one-hundred planned experiments in various disciplines. A sampling includes:medicine (humoral immunity,sleep monitoring, radiationdosimetry),physiology (spatial orientation/performance changes during long duration flight), epidemiology (microbial surface sampling),metallurgy (determination of metaldiffusion coefficients),oceanography/geology/limnology/physical science (photographic survey (over 10,000 photos) of theEarth),space science (flame propagation),microgravity science (behavior offluids, critical angle determination).
Linenger launched aboard U.S.Space ShuttleAtlantis (STS-81) on January 12, 1997, remained on board the space station with two Russiancosmonauts upon undocking of the Shuttle, and eventually returned upon a different mission ofAtlantis (STS-84) on May 24, 1997—spending a total of 132 days, 4 hours, 1 minute in space—the longest duration flight of an American male at that time.[2]
During his stay aboard Space Station Mir, Linenger became the first American to conduct a spacewalk from a foreign space station and in a non-American madespacesuit. During the five-hour walk, he and his Russian colleague tested for the first time ever the newly designedOrlan-M Russian-built spacesuit, installed the Optical Properties Monitor (OPM) and Bentondosimeter on the outer surface of the station, and retrieved for analysis on Earth numerous externally mounted material-exposure panels.
The three crewmembers also performed a "flyaround" in the Soyuz spacecraft-undocking from one docking port of the station, manually flying to and redocking the capsule at a different location-thus making Linenger the first American to undock from a space station aboard two different spacecraft (U.S. Space Shuttle and Russian Soyuz).
While living aboard the space station, Linenger and his two Russian crewmembers faced numerous difficulties: the most severe fire ever aboard an orbiting spacecraft,[3] failures of onboard systems (oxygen generator,carbon dioxide scrubbing, cooling line loop leaks, communication antenna tracking ability,urine collection and processing facility), a near collision with a resupply cargo ship during a manual docking system test, loss of station electrical power, and loss of attitude control resulting in a slow, uncontrolled "tumble" through space. In spite of these challenges and added demands on their time (in order to carry out the repair work), they still accomplished all mission goals-spacewalk, flyaround, and one-hundred percent of the planned U.S. science experiments.
In completing the nearly five-month mission, Linenger logged approximately 50 million miles (the equivalent of over 110 round trips to theMoon and back), more than 2,000 orbits around the Earth, and traveled at an average speed of 18,000 miles per hour.
Linenger retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in January 1998.[4]
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