Andy Thomas

Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas (born December 18, 1951 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian-born U.S. aerospace engineer and a NASA astronaut. He became a U.S. citizen in December 1986. [1] He is married to NASA astronaut Shannon Walker.
Contents
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* 1 Education
* 2 Spaceflight experience
* 3 Australian astronauts
* 4 External links

[edit] Education

Educated at St Peter's College, Adelaide before receiving a bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical engineering (with First Class honours) from the University of Adelaide in 1973. He completed a doctorate in the same subject at the University of Adelaide in 1978.

He appears in the 1972 edition of the Adelaide University Engineering Society's annual publication, Hysteresis. The caption below a photograph of the young Thomas reads:

"A.S.W. (Syd) Thomas: Hides his massive intellect behind a screen of silence and hair. His abilities are varied and include designing wine labels for the A.U.E.S."

– Hysteresis 1972, pg 27 [2]

[edit] Spaceflight experience

In August 1993, following one year of training, Thomas was appointed a member of the NASA astronaut corps and was qualified for assignment as a Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews.

In June 1995, Thomas was named Payload Commander for STS-77, subsequently making his first space flight on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 1996. He then undertook long-duration flight training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia before serving 130 days as Board Engineer 2 onboard the Russian space station Mir in 1998, launching on STS-89 and returning on STS-91. His third space flight, STS-102, increased his time spent in space to more than 177 days. For his fourth flight, he was a Mission Specialist on the Discovery "return to flight" mission (STS-114) that launched at 14:39 UTC, 26 July 2005.

He has served as Deputy Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.

[edit] Australian astronauts

* Philip K. Chapman
* Paul D. Scully-Power
* Andy Thomas