Julie Payette

Infobox Astronaut
name =Julie Payette

---

type =CSA Astronaut
status =Active
nationality =Canadian
date_birth =birth date and age|1963|10|20
date_death =
place_birth =Montreal, Quebec
place_death =
occupation =Engineer
rank =
selection =1992 CSA Group
time =9d 19h 13m
mission =STS-96
insignia = |

Julie Payette (born October 20, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec) is an astronaut with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) who currently works primarily with NASA.

Education

Payette attended elementary and secondary schools in Montreal. In 1982 she completed an International Baccalaureate Diploma at the international United World College of the Atlantic in South Wales, UK. Later she received a bachelor of engineering cum laude from McGill University in 1986 and a Master of applied science from the University of Toronto in 1990 [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/payette.html Official NASA Bio] ] .

Engineering career

Between 1986 and 1988, Payette worked as a systems engineer for IBM Canada's Science Engineering division. From 1988 to 1990, as a graduate student at the University of Toronto, she was involved in a high-performance computer architecture project and worked as a teaching assistant. At the beginning of 1991, Payette joined the Communications and science department of the IBM Research Laboratory in Zürich, Switzerland, for a one year visiting scientist appointment. When she returned to Canada, in January 1992, she joined the Speech Research Group of Bell-Northern research in Montreal where she was responsible for a project in telephone speech understanding using computer voice recognition.

Payette was selected by the CSA as one of four astronauts from a field of 5,330 applicants in June 1992. After undergoing basic training in Canada, she worked as a technical advisor for the Mobile Servicing System, an advanced robotics system and Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station [http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/astronauts/biopayette.asp Official CSA Bio] ] . In 1993, Payette established the Human-Computer Interaction Group at the Canadian Astronaut Program and served as a technical specialist on the NATO International Research Study Group on speech processing.

In preparation for a space assignment, Payette obtained her commercial pilot license and logged 120 hours as a research operator on board reduced gravity aircraft. In April 1996, Payette was certified as a one-atmosphere deep sea diving suit operator. Payette obtained her captaincy on the CT-114 Tutor military jet at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Moose Jaw, in Saskatchewan in February 1996. She obtained her military instrument rating in 1997. Payette has logged more than 1,300 hours of flight time, including 450 hours on high performance jet aircraft.

Honors

In 2000, she was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec [ [http://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/32/15/order/ McGill Reporter: Order of Quebec given to many of our own] ] .

She was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Alberta at their fall convocation on November 22, 2006. She holds 14 honorary degrees in total [http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Newsroom/Profiles/PILJuliePayette.htm Julie Payette] ] .

NASA career

Payette reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996 to begin mission specialist training. After completing one year of training, she was assigned to work on technical issues for the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch. Payette completed the initial astronaut training in spring of 1998.

Payette flew on Space Shuttle Discovery from May 27 to June 6, 1999 as part of the crew of STS-96. During the mission, the crew performed the first manual docking of the Shuttle to the International Space Station, and delivered 4 tons of logistics and supplies to the station. On Discovery, Payette served as a mission specialist, held responsibility for the Station systems and operated the Canadarm robotic arm on orbit, as well as several other duties [http://www.inventivewomen.com/library/library_julie_payette_que.shtml Inventive Women Biographies: Julie Payette] ] . The STS-96 mission was accomplished in 153 orbits of the Earth, traveling over 6 million kilometers in 9 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes. Payette became the first Canadian to participate in an ISS assembly mission and to board the Space Station.

Payette served as Chief Astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency from 2000 to 2007. She also worked as CAPCOM at the Mission Control Center in Houston during STS-114, and as lead CAPCOM during STS-121.

Payette is scheduled to visit the space station again in early 2009 as a Mission Specialist aboard Endeavour during mission STS-127 [Cite web| url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/feb/HQ_08052_Crew_Announcements.html|title=NASA Assigns Crews for STS-127 and Expedition 19 Missions |accessyear=2008|accessmonthday=February 11| publisher=NASA| year=2008| author=NASA] .

Personal

Payette is fluent in French and English, and speaks conversational Spanish, Italian, German and Russian. Payette plays the piano, with a special love of Mozart [ [http://www.astronautix.com/astros/payette.htm Astronautix.com: Julie Payette] ] , and regularly sings as a soprano in choirs. She is married and has two sons.

Her motto is "Per aspera ad astra": 'A rough road leads to the stars'.

External links

* [http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/afl/index.html Pre-Recorded Q&A with Julie Payette] in NASA's Astronaut Flight Lounge — Select "Julie Payette" from the "Astronauts" tab

References