James H. Newman - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

James Hansen Newman is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

and a former NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

who flew on four Space Shuttle missions..

Personal data

Newman was born on October 16, 1956, in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (now the Federated States of Micronesia

Federated States of Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia or FSM is an independent, sovereign island nation, made up of four states from west to east: Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae. It comprises approximately 607 islands with c...

), but considers San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, to be his hometown. He is married to Mary Lee Pieper and has three children. He is the brother of Eric H. Newman who is the father of Will L Newman. He enjoys hiking

Hiking

Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...

, soccer, softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

, and soaring

Gliding

Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...

. His mother, Ms. Ruth Hansen, and his father, Dr. William Newman, are both residents of San Diego. Mary Lee’s parents, Mr. & Mrs. Wylie Bernard Pieper, reside in Houston, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

Education

Newman graduated from La Jolla High School

La Jolla High School

La Jolla, CA 92037 Enrollment 1,650 Colors Black & Red██ Mascot Viking Rival Schools The Bishop's School, Cathedral Catholic High School, Mission Bay High School, University City High School Homepage...

, San Diego, California, in 1974; he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, in physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

in 1978, a master of arts degree and a doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

in physics from Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

in 1982 and 1984, respectively.

Special honors

Newman was awarded a Citation in Senior Thesis Research from Dartmouth College
in 1978. Elected to Sigma Xi in 1980. He is the recipient of
the 1982-83 Texaco Fellowship, the Sigma Xi Graduate Merit Award in 1985, and 1988 NASA

NASA

Superior Achievement Award. Newman was selected by NASA Johnson Space Center to attend the 1989 summer session of the International Space University

International Space University

The International Space University is a private university founded in 1987. The University currently offers three degree granting programs — Master of Science in Space Management, Master of Science in Space Studies and Executive MBA — in addition to a non-degree-granting Space Studies Program.The...

in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Newman was awarded the 1995 Superior Achievement Award by the Institute of Navigation

Institute of Navigation

The Institute of Navigation is a non-profit professional organization for the advancement of the art and science of navigation. It was founded in 1945 and serves communities interested in navigation and positioning on land, air, sea and space. It is a worldwide organization with members in over...

for "outstanding accomplishments as a Practical Navigator" for his work on GPS (Global Positioning System) on the Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

. In 1996 he received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He is the recipient of the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award (1994, 1999) for his work as a member of the STS-51

STS-51

STS-51 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission that launched the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite ACTS in September 1993. The flight also featured the deployment and retrieval of the SPAS-ORFEUS satellite and its IMAX camera, which captured spectacular footage of Discovery in space...

and STS-88

STS-88

-Mission parameters:*Weight*Liftoff: *Landing: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Orbital Period: 92.4min-Launch attempts:-Mission highlights:Node 1, named Unity, was the first space station hardware delivered by the space shuttle. It has two Pressurized Mating Adapters , one attached to either end...

crews. As the leader of the Space Vision System Development Team, Newman shared the 2001 Rotary

Rotary International

Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...

National Award for Space Achievement Foundation's Team Award and shared a 2002 NASA Group Achievement Award to the Space Vision System Team.

NASA career

After graduating from Rice University in 1984, Newman did an additional year of post-doctoral work at Rice. His research interests are in atomic and molecular physics, specifically medium to low energy collisions of atoms and molecules of aeronomic interest. His doctoral work at Rice University was in the design, construction, testing, and use of a new position-sensitive detection system for measuring differential cross sections of collisions of atoms and molecules. In 1985, Dr. Newman was appointed as adjunct professor in the Department of Space Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. That same year he came to work at NASA

NASA

’s Johnson Space Center, where his duties included responsibility for conducting flight crew and flight control team

Flight controller

Flight controllers are personnel who aid in the operations of a space flight, working in Mission Control Centers such as NASA's Mission Control Center, or ESA's Operations Center. Flight controllers sit at computer consoles and use telemetry to monitor in real time various technical aspects of a...

training for all mission phases in the areas of Orbiter propulsion, guidance, and control. He was working as a simulation supervisor when selected for the astronaut program. In that capacity, he was responsible for a team of instructors conducting flight controller

Flight controller

training.

Selected by NASA in January 1990, Newman began astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

training in July 1990. His technical assignments since then include: Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch where he was part of a team responsible for crew ingress/strap-in prior to launch and crew egress after landing; Mission Development Branch working on the Shuttle on-board laptop computers; Chief of the Computer Support Branch in the Astronaut Office, responsible for crew involvement in the development and use of computers on the Space Shuttle and Space Station. Detailed to the Space Shuttle Program Office in March 1999 for a two year tour of duty, Newman served as the RMS Integration Manager responsible for the Orbiter robotic arm

Robotic arm

A mechanical arm is a robotic, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion or translational displacement. The links of the manipulator can be considered to form a kinematic chain...

and the Space Vision System. He flew as a mission specialist on STS-51

STS-51

(1993), STS-69

STS-69

STS-69 was a Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility . The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 7 September 1995.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: payload*Perigee:...

(1995), STS-88

STS-88

(1998) and STS-109

STS-109

STS-109 was a Space Shuttle mission that launched from the Kennedy Space Center on 1 March 2002. It was the 108th mission of the Space Shuttle program, the 27th flight of the orbiter Columbia and the fourth servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope...

(2002). A veteran of four space flights, Dr. Newman has logged over 43 days in space, including six spacewalks totaling 43 hours and 13 minutes.

Effective December 1, 2002, Newman served as NASA’s Director, Human Space Flight Programs, Russia. As NASA’s lead representative to the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos) and its contractors, his role is to continue oversight of all human space flight operations, logistics, and technical functions, including NASA’s mission operations in Korolev and crew training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City

Star City, Russia

Star City is a common name of an area in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center...

.

While still assigned to the Astronaut Office Newman has also worked in various assignments at NASA. Detailed to the Space Shuttle Program Office from March 1999 to March 2001, Newman served as the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Integration Manager responsible for the Orbiter Canadian robotic arm and the Space Vision System.

Newman was detailed to the International Space Station (ISS) Program Office from December 2002 through January 2006, serving as NASA’s Director, Human Space Flight Program, Russia. As the ISS Program Manager’s lead representative to the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) and its contractors, his responsibilities included oversight of NASA’s human space flight program in Russia. This included NASA operations, logistics, and technical functions in Moscow, at NASA’s Mission Control Center operations in Korolev, and NASA’s crew training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City.

In March 2006, Newman was detailed to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California, as a NASA Visiting Professor in the NPS Space Systems Academic Group. Newman left NASA in July 2008 to accept a position as Professor, Space Systems at NPS to continue his involvement in teaching and research, with an emphasis on using very small satellites in hands-on education and for focused research projects of national interest.

Space flight experience

STS-51

Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...

, (September 12–22, 1993) was launched from and returned to make the first night landing at Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center

The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. During the ten-day flight, the crew of five deployed the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) and the Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer on the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ORFEUS/SPAS). Newman was responsible for the operation of the SPAS, was the backup operator for the RMS, and on flight day five conducted a seven-hour, five minute spacewalk with Carl Walz. The extravehicular activity (EVA) tested tools and techniques for use on future missions. In addition to working with numerous secondary payloads and medical test objectives, the crew successfully tested a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to determine real-time Shuttle positions and velocities and completed a test routing Orbiter data to on-board laptop computers. STS-51 made 158 orbits of the Earth, traveling 4.1 million miles in 236 hours and 11 minutes.

STS-69

STS-69

Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...

(September 7–18, 1995), was an eleven-day mission during which the crew successfully deployed and retrieved a SPARTAN satellite and the Wake Shield Facility

Wake Shield Facility

]Wake Shield Facility is an experimental science platform that was placed in low-earth orbit by the Space Shuttle. It is a 3.7 meter diameter, free-flying stainless steel disk....

(WSF). Also on board was the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker payload, numerous secondary payloads, and medical experiments. Newman was responsible for the crew’s science involvement with the WSF and was also the primary RMS operator on the flight, performing the WSF and EVA RMS operations. He also operated the on-orbit tests of the Ku-band Communications Adaptor, the Relative GPS experiment, and the RMS Manipulator Positioning Display. The mission was accomplished in 171 Earth orbits, traveling 4.5 million miles in 260 hours, 29 minutes.

STS-88

STS-88

Endeavour (December 4–15, 1998), was the first International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

assembly mission. During the twelve-day mission the Unity Module was mated with the Zarya Module

Zarya

Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...

. Newman performed three spacewalks with Jerry Ross, totaling 21 hours, 22 minutes. The primary objective of the spacewalks was to connect external power and data umbilicals between Zarya and Unity. Other objectives include setting up the Early Communication antennaas, deploying antennas on Zarya that had failed to deploy as expected, installing a sunshade to protect an external computer, installing translation aids, and attaching tools/hardware for use in future EVAs. The crew also performed IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC) operations, and deployed two satellites, Mighty Sat 1, sponsored by the Air Force, and SAC-A, from Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. The mission was accomplished in 185 orbits of the Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

, traveling 4.6 million miles in 283 hours and 18 minutes.

STS-109 Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...

(March 1–12, 2002). STS-109 was the fourth Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared...

(HST) servicing mission and the 108th flight of the Space Shuttle. The crew of STS-109 successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope with new solar arrays, a new power control unit, and a new camera, and also installed a cooler to reactivate an old infrared camera. This work was accomplished during a total of five spacewalks in five consecutive days. Dr. Newman performed two spacewalks with crewmate Mike Massimino, totaling 14 hours and 46 minutes. During the first of these spacewalks, Newman and Massimino replaced an old solar array and a reaction wheel assembly with new units. During their second spacewalk they replaced the old Faint Object Camera

Faint Object Camera

The Faint Object Camera was a camera installed on the Hubble Space Telescope from launch in 1990 until 2002. It was replaced by the Advanced Camera for Surveys.The camera was built by Dornier GmbH and was funded by the European Space Agency...

with the state-of-the-art Advanced Camera for Surveys, expected to produce a tenfold increase in Hubble's capability. STS-109 orbited the Earth 165 times, traveling 3.9 million miles in 262 hours and 10 minutes.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.