Jeffrey Ashby

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Jeffrey S. Ashby
Born
Jeffrey Shears Ashby

June 16, 1954 (1954-06-16) (age 69)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
StatusEmployed by Blue Origin
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Idaho, B.S. 1976
University of Tennessee, M.S. 1993
Occupation(s)Naval aviator, test pilot
Awards
Space career
NASA Astronaut
RankCaptain, USN
Time in space
27d 16h 19m
Selection1994 NASA Group 15
MissionsSTS-93, STS-100, STS-112
Mission insignia
RetirementJune 2008

Jeffrey Shears "Bones" Ashby (born June 16, 1954) is an American mechanical engineer, and former naval officer and aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut, a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions. He is a retired Captain in the U.S. Navy. He currently works for Blue Origin as chief of mission assurance.

Personal data

Jeff Ashby was born June 16, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, southwest of Denver. He graduated from Evergreen High School in 1972. He attended the University of Idaho, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1976. He later earned a Master of Science degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee in 1993.

Naval career

Ashby is a 1986 graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, also known as "TOPGUN", and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. As a test pilot in the U.S. Navy, Ashby helped develop the F/A-18 aircraft and flew the aircraft in combat missions as part of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch during and after the Gulf War and as part of Operation Continue Hope in Somalia. He was the Navy Attack Aviator of the Year in 1991. Ashby commanded a Fighter Squadron stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln; in 1994, his squadron was designated the top F/A-18 squadron in the Navy.

Ashby accumulated over 7,000 flight hours and 1,000 carrier landings during six aircraft carrier deployments in his Navy career.

Ashby preparing for launch of STS-112

NASA career

Ashby was selected as an astronaut candidate in December 1994 at age 40. He was initially scheduled to be the pilot on STS-85 in 1997 but was replaced due to a family illness.[1] He piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-93 in July 1999 and STS-100 in April 2001, and commanded mission STS-112 in October 2002.

His first flight, aboard Columbia, deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory and was the first U.S. space mission commanded by a female, Eileen Collins. Ashby's latter two flights aboard Endeavour and Atlantis were the sixth and ninth assembly missions for the International Space Station. He has traveled over 11 million miles, flown 436 orbits around the Earth, and logged over 660 hours (27.5 days) in space.[2]

Post-NASA career

Ashby was hired by Jeff Bezos's private spaceflight company Blue Origin as the Chief of Mission Assurance,[3] where he works to assure safety for human space flight.[4]

Awards and decorations

References

  1. ^ "STS-133 Shuttle Report | Injured astronaut replaced on shuttle Discovery's crew". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  2. ^ "Astronaut Bio: Jeff Ashby (8/2009)". Jsc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  3. ^ Calla Cofield (22 June 2015). "Blue Origin Offers Tantalizing Preview of Private Space Trips (Video)". SPACE.com.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2012-10-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

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