Pierre Thuot | |
|---|---|
 Thout in July 2010 | |
| Born | Pierre Joseph Thuot (1955-05-19)May 19, 1955 (age 70) Groton, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) University of Southern California (MS) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Captain,USN |
Time in space | 27d 6h 51m |
| Selection | NASA Group 11 (1985) |
TotalEVAs | 3 |
Total EVA time | 17h, 42m |
| Missions | STS-36 STS-49 STS-62 |
Mission insignia |    |
Pierre Joseph Thuot (/ˈθuːət/; born May 19, 1955) is a retiredUnited States Navycaptain andNASAastronaut. He went into space three times, spending over 650 hours in space, including over 15 hours in threespace walks. He is a former U.S. record holder for time spent on one spacewalk, and participated in the first three-person spacewalk.
Born on May 19, 1955, inGroton, Connecticut, Thuot considersFairfax, Virginia andNew Bedford, Massachusetts to be his hometowns. Thuot graduated fromFairfax High School, Fairfax, Virginia, in 1973.
In 1977, he received aBachelor of Science degree inphysics from theUnited States Naval Academy. In 1985, he received aMaster of Science degree insystems management from theUniversity of Southern California.[1] He attendedHarvard Business School's six-week Advanced Management Program in 2004.[2]
Thuot graduated 30th in his class from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1977 and commencedNaval Flight Officer training in July 1977. He received hiswings in August 1978 and then reported to Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) atNaval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, for initialF-14 Tomcat training as a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). He was then assigned to Fighter Squadron 14 (VF-14) and deployed to the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas aboard theaircraft carriersUSS John F. Kennedy andUSS Independence. While assigned to VF-14, he attended theNavy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). He was then selected to attend theU.S. Naval Test Pilot School in May 1982. Upon graduation in June 1983, he worked as a project test flight officer at theNaval Air Test Center flying the F-14A Tomcat,A-6E Intruder and theF-4J Phantom II until June 1984 when he returned to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School as a flight instructor.[1]
He has over 3,500 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft, and has over 270 carrier landings.[1]
Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1985, Thuot has served in a variety of technical assignments. As the remote manipulator system (robot arm), crew equipment, and extravehicular activity (EVA) representative for the Astronaut Office, he participated in the design, development and evaluation ofSpace Shuttle payloads, crew equipment and crew procedures. He performed Space Shuttle flight software verification in theShuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and served as aCAPCOM in the Mission Control Center, responsible for communications with the crew for numerous Space Shuttle missions. He served as the lead astronaut for Space Station integrated assembly and maintenance operations within the Astronaut Office. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, as well as supervising astronaut candidate training for the class of 1995. A veteran of three space flights,STS-36 in 1990,STS-49 in 1992 andSTS-62 in 1994, Thuot has logged over 654 hours in space, including 17.7 hours on threespace walks. Thuot was the first member ofNASA Astronaut Group 11 to fly a shuttle mission.
On his first flight, Thuot was a mission specialist on the crew ofSTS-36 which was launched from theKennedy Space Center,Florida, on February 28, 1990, aboard theSpace ShuttleAtlantis. This mission carriedDepartment of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads. Following 72 orbits of the Earth in 106 hours, the STS-36 mission concluded with a lakebed landing atEdwards Air Force Base,California, on March 4, 1990, after traveling 1.87 million miles.[3]
Thuot was a mission specialist on the crew ofSTS-49, the maiden voyage of theSpace Shuttle Endeavour, which was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on May 7, 1992. During that mission, Thuot, along with astronautRichard Hieb, performed three spacewalks which resulted in the capture and repair of the strandedIntelsat VI F3 communications satellite. The third spacewalk, which also included astronautThomas Akers, was the first-ever three-person spacewalk. This 8 hour and 29 minute spacewalk, the longest in history, broke a twenty-year-old record that was held by theApollo 17 astronauts. The mission concluded on May 16, 1992, with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base after orbiting the Earth 141 times in 213 hours and traveling 3.7 million miles.[4]
On March 4, 1994, Thuot was launched aboardSpace Shuttle Columbia onSTS-62, a microgravity science and technology demonstration mission that carried the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-2) and the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST-2) payloads. More than sixty experiments or investigations were conducted in scientific and engineering disciplines including materials science, human physiology, biotechnology, protein crystal growth, robotics, structural dynamics, atmospheric ozone monitoring and spacecraft glow. During the spacecraft glow investigation,Columbia's orbital altitude was lowered to 105 nautical miles (194 km), the lowest ever flown by a Space Shuttle. STS-62, one of the longest Space Shuttle missions, concluded on March 18, 1994, with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center after orbiting the Earth 224 times in 13 days, 23 hours, and 16 minutes and traveling 5.8 million miles.[5]
With the completion of his third mission, Thuot has logged over 654 hours in space, including over 17.7 hours on three spacewalks.
Thuot left NASA in June 1995 and returned to active service with theUnited States Navy.
Thuot retired from the U.S. Navy in 1998 and took a job withOrbital Sciences Corporation as a vice president in theDulles, Virginia-based firm's Space Systems Group. He is currently a Senior Systems Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.[2]
Thuot is a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, the Association of Naval Aviation, the University of Southern California Alumni Association, theAssociation of Space Explorers, theAmerican Astronautical Society (AAS) and an Associate Fellow of theAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).[1]
He has been awarded threeDefense Superior Service Medals, theLegion of Merit, theNational Intelligence Medal of Achievement, theNational Defense Service Medal, twoNavy Meritorious Unit Commendations, twoNavy Battle Efficiency Awards, theSea Service Deployment Ribbon, the AAS Flight Achievement Award andVictor A. Prather Award for 1993, threeNASA Space Flight Medals, twoNASA Exceptional Service Medals, and seven NASA Group Achievement Awards. He held the U.S. and absolute world records for total time spent on space walks: 8 hours and 29 minutes from 1992 until 2001.[1]
Thuot is married to the former Cheryl Ann Mattingly ofLeonardtown, Maryland, and they have two children. Thuot enjoys boating, golf, running, music, flying and family activities.[1]
NASA Astronaut Group 10 ← NASA Astronaut Group 11 →NASA Astronaut Group 12 | |||||||
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