UC Davis alum Tracy C. Dyson heads to the International Space Station for her 3rd space mission
A NASA astronaut with Northern California ties is set to begin her third mission in space this week. Tracy C. Dyson, a NASA astronaut with Northern California ties, is set to begin her third mission to the International Space Station. She will be joined by three crew members from Kazakhstan to support Expedition 70 and 71 on the space station for six months before returning to Earth in September. Her mission will include experiments and technology demonstrations, including a study on how fire spreads in space. This is Dyson's third space mission and she has previously spent over 188 days in space, including over 22 hours in three spacewalks. She has served as a consultant to “The Martian” movie and its star Jessica Chastain.
Published : a month ago by Daniel Macht, https://www.facebook.com/ in Science
A NASA astronaut with Northern California ties is set to begin her third mission in space this week. Tracy C. Dyson, who earned a doctorate in chemistry at UC Davis in 1997, is one of three crew members who will blast off from Kazakhstan on Thursday to support Expedition 70 for a mission to the International Space Station. Dyson will spend six months on the space station as an Expedition 70 and 71 flight engineer before returning to Earth in September. She told UC Davis for its Letters & Science magazine that her mission will include experiments and technology demonstrations. Among them will be a study on how fire spreads in space, though she is also ready to take on other tasks should the “plan change.” “If there’s anything I’ve learned in the 25 years that I’ve been doing this, it’s that the plan changes,” she told the magazine. According to her NASA bio, Dyson previously spent more than 188 days in space, which involved more than 22 hours in three spacewalks. She was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2007 and a flight engineer for Expedition 23/24 in 2010. Dyson grew up in Southern California and went on to compete in track and field while an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton, where she earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry. She became a pilot while attending grad school in Davis and also learned Russian and American Sign Language. NASA invited her to begin training as an astronaut about a year after she began post-doc studies at UC Irvine, according to Letters & Science magazine. The magazine reported that Dyson has also served as a consultant to “The Martian” movie and its star, Jessica Chastain. Dyson also has TV experience, serving as a host for NASA’s “StationLife” series, and also as a guest judge on “Cupcake Wars.” NASA said that its launch coverage will begin at 5:20 a.m. PT on NASA+, NASA Television, YouTube and NASA’s website. Welcome remarks coverage at the space station are expected at 11:50 a.m. PT.
Topics: Space