- Kathryn C. Thornton
Infobox Astronaut
name =Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton
type =NASA Astronaut
status =Retired
nationality =American
date_birth =August 17 ,1952
occupation =Physicist
selection =1984 NASA Group
time =40d 15h 14m
mission =STS-33 ,STS-49 ,STS-61 ,STS-73
insignia =|Kathryn Ryan Cordell Thornton (Ph.D.) (born
August 17 ,1952 inMontgomery, Alabama ) is an American scientist and a formerNASA astronaut with over 975 hours in space, including 21 hours of extravehicular activity. She is currently the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in theUniversity of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science.Education and organizations
Graduated from Sidney Lanier High School [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanier_High_School_%28Montgomery%2C_Alabama%29] , Montgomery, Alabama, in 1970; received a bachelor of science degree in physics from
Auburn University in 1974, a master of science degree in physics from the University of Virginia in 1977, and a doctorate of philosophy in physics from the University of Virginia in 1979.Member of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Pi Sigma.
Experience
After Dr. Thornton earned her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia in 1979, she was awarded a
NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue her research at theMax Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics inHeidelberg, Germany . In 1980, she returned toCharlottesville, Virginia , where she was employed as a physicist at the U.S. Army Foreign Science and Technology Center.NASA experience
Selected by
NASA in May 1984, Dr. Thornton became an astronaut in July 1985. Her technical assignments have included flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), serving as a team member of the Vehicle Integration Test Team (VITT) atKennedy Space Center , and as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM). A veteran of three space flights, Dr. Thornton flew onSTS-33 in 1989,STS-49 in 1992, andSTS-61 in 1993. She has logged over 975 hours in space, including more than 21 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA). [ [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/thornt-k.html NASA bio, original article source] ]Dr. Thornton was a
mission specialist on the crew of STS-33 which launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 22, 1989, aboard theSpace Shuttle Discovery . The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and other secondary payloads. After 79 orbits of the Earth, this five-day mission concluded onNovember 27 , 1989, atEdwards Air Force Base ,California .On her second flight, Dr. Thornton served on the crew of STS-49, May 7-16, 1992, on board the maiden flight of the new
Space Shuttle Endeavour . During the mission the crew conducted the initial test flight of Endeavour, performed a record four EVA's (space walks) to retrieve, repair and deploy the International Telecommunications Satellite (INTELSAT ), and to demonstrate and evaluate numerous EVA tasks to be used for the assembly ofSpace Station Freedom . Dr. Thornton was one of two EVA crew members who evaluated Space Station assembly techniques on the fourth EVA. STS-49 logged 213 hours in space and 141 Earth orbits prior to landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.On her third flight, Dr. Thornton was a mission specialist EVA crew member aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the STS-61
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing and repair mission. STS-61 launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, onDecember 2 , 1993. During the 11-day flight, the HST was captured and restored to full capacity through a record five space walks by four astronauts (including her.) After having travelled 4,433,772 miles in 163 orbits of the Earth, the crew of Endeavour returned to a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center onDecember 13 , 1993. Then, afterExpedition 14 ,Sunita Williams surpassed her for woman with the most spacewalks.From October 20 to November 5, 1995, Dr. Thornton served aboard
Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-73, as the payload commander of the secondUnited States Microgravity Laboratory mission. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. In completing her fourth space flight, Dr. Thornton orbited the Earth 256 times, traveled over 6 million miles, and logged a total of 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds in space.Dr. Thornton left NASA on
August 1 , 1996, to join the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Engineering. She also serves as the director of UVA's Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education.Personal
Thornton is married to Stephen T. Thornton, Ph.D., of
Oak Ridge, Tennessee . She has two stepsons and three daughters. She enjoys scuba diving and skiing. Her parents, Mr. William C. Cordell and Mrs. Elizabeth Cordell, are deceased. Her husband's mother, Mrs. Helen Lee Gardner, and father, Mr. Barton Brown Thornton, are deceased.References
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