Mary L. Cleave
Encyclopedia
Mary Louise Cleave is an American
engineer
and a former NASA
astronaut
. She also served from 2004 to 2007 as NASA
Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate
.
as the daughter of Howard Cleave and Barbara Cleave. She grew up in Great Neck, New York
, and has an older (Trudy Carter) and a younger sister (Bobbie Cleave). Currently, Cleave resides in Annapolis Maryland, owning several cats and a fox terrier named Abbey family.
, Great Neck, New York
In 1969 she received a bachelor of science degree in Biological Sciences from Colorado State University
, and in 1975 a master of science in Microbial Ecology from Utah State University
. In 1979 she received a doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University.
south of Snowville, Utah
; algal removal with intermittent sand filtration and prediction of minimum river flow necessary to maintain certain game fish; the effects of increased salinity and oil shale leachates on freshwater phytoplankton
productivity; development of the Surface Impoundment Assessment document and computer program (FORTRAN) for current and future processing of data from surface impoundments in Utah
; and design and implementation of an algal bioassay center and a workshop for bioassay techniques for the Intermountain West.
flights; Malfunctions Procedures Book; Crew Equipment Design. A veteran of two space flights, Cleave logged a total of 10 days, 22 hours, 02 minutes, 24 seconds in space, orbit
ed the Earth
172 times and traveled 3.94 million miles. She was a mission specialist on STS-61-B
(November 26 to December 3, 1985) and STS-30
(May 4-8, 1989).
Cleave left JSC in May 1991 to join NASA
's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Maryland
. She worked in the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes as the Project Manager for SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing, Wide-Field-of-view-Sensor), an ocean color sensor which is monitoring vegetation globally. Cleave served as Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
. She stepped down from that position in April, 2007 and was succeeded by Dr. Alan Stern
.
Atlantis
(Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, 1985) launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center
, Florida
, and returned to land on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base
, California
. During the mission, the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSAT II, and SATCOM K-2 communications satellites, conducted 2 six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE/ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CFES) experiment for McDonnell Douglas
and a Getaway Special (GAS) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialist Experiments for the Mexican Government, and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot (OEX DAP). This was the heaviest payload weight carried to orbit by the Space Shuttle to date. Mission duration was 165 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds.
STS-30
Atlantis (May 4-8, 1989) was a four day mission during which the crew successfully deployed the Magellan
Venus-exploration spacecraft
, the first U.S. planetary science mission launched since 1978, and the first planetary probe to be deployed from the Shuttle. Magellan arrived at Venus
in August 1990 and radar-mapped over 95% of the surface of Venus. Magellan has been one of NASA's most successful scientific missions providing valuable information about the Venusian atmosphere and magnetic field
. In addition, the crew also worked on secondary payloads involving Indium crystal growth, electrical storm, and earth observation studies. Mission duration was 96 hours, 57 minutes, 35 seconds.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
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....
. She also served from 2004 to 2007 as 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...
Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate
Science Mission Directorate
The Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration engages the United States’ science community, sponsors scientific research, and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NASA’s partners around the world to answer fundamental questions...
.
Personal
Cleave was born in Southampton, New YorkSouthampton (town), New York
The Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...
as the daughter of Howard Cleave and Barbara Cleave. She grew up in Great Neck, New York
Great Neck, New York
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens...
, and has an older (Trudy Carter) and a younger sister (Bobbie Cleave). Currently, Cleave resides in Annapolis Maryland, owning several cats and a fox terrier named Abbey family.
Education
In 1965 Cleave graduated from Great Neck North High SchoolGreat Neck North High School
John L. Miller Great Neck North High School or simply "North High," or "North," is a public high school, including grades 9 through 12, in the village of Great Neck, New York, operated by the Great Neck School District...
, Great Neck, New York
Great Neck, New York
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens...
In 1969 she received a bachelor of science degree in Biological Sciences from Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
, and in 1975 a master of science in Microbial Ecology from Utah State University
Utah State University
Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....
. In 1979 she received a doctorate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University.
Academic career
Cleave held graduate research, research phycologist, and research engineer assignments in the Ecology Center and the Utah Water Research Laboratory at Utah State University from September 1971 to June 1980. Her work included research on the productivity of the algal component of cold desert soil crusts in the Great Basin DesertGreat Basin Desert
The Great Basin Desert is an area of nearctic high deserts across parts of Nevada, California, and Utah that extends into the Colorado River watershed , but which is mostly a portion of the central Nevada desert basins of the Great Basin.It along with the Escalante Desert, Mohave Desert, the...
south of Snowville, Utah
Snowville, Utah
Snowville is a town in Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The population was 167 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Snowville is located at , at in elevation....
; algal removal with intermittent sand filtration and prediction of minimum river flow necessary to maintain certain game fish; the effects of increased salinity and oil shale leachates on freshwater phytoplankton
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν , meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye...
productivity; development of the Surface Impoundment Assessment document and computer program (FORTRAN) for current and future processing of data from surface impoundments in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
; and design and implementation of an algal bioassay center and a workshop for bioassay techniques for the Intermountain West.
NASA career
Cleave was selected as an astronaut in May 1980. Her technical assignments have included: flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); CAPCOM on five Space ShuttleSpace 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...
flights; Malfunctions Procedures Book; Crew Equipment Design. A veteran of two space flights, Cleave logged a total of 10 days, 22 hours, 02 minutes, 24 seconds in space, orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
ed 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...
172 times and traveled 3.94 million miles. She was a mission specialist on STS-61-B
STS-61-B
STS-61-B was NASA's 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and its second using Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 26 November 1985. During STS-61-B, the shuttle crew deployed three communications satellites, and tested techniques of constructing...
(November 26 to December 3, 1985) and STS-30
STS-30
STS-30 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis deployed the Venus-bound Magellan probe into orbit. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 4 May 1989, and landed four days later...
(May 4-8, 1989).
Cleave left JSC in May 1991 to join 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...
's Goddard Space Flight Center
Goddard Space Flight Center
The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...
in Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt, Maryland
Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Contained within today's City of Greenbelt is the historic planned community now known locally as "Old Greenbelt" and designated as the Greenbelt Historic District...
. She worked in the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes as the Project Manager for SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing, Wide-Field-of-view-Sensor), an ocean color sensor which is monitoring vegetation globally. Cleave served as Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. She stepped down from that position in April, 2007 and was succeeded by Dr. Alan Stern
Alan Stern
S. Alan Stern is an American planetary scientist. He is the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto....
.
Spaceflight experience
STS-61-BSTS-61-B
STS-61-B was NASA's 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and its second using Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 26 November 1985. During STS-61-B, the shuttle crew deployed three communications satellites, and tested techniques of constructing...
Atlantis
Space Shuttle Atlantis
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States...
(Nov. 26 to Dec. 3, 1985) launched at night from the 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...
, and returned to land on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
, 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...
. During the mission, the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSAT II, and SATCOM K-2 communications satellites, conducted 2 six-hour spacewalks to demonstrate space station construction techniques with the EASE/ACCESS experiments, operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis (CFES) experiment for McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
and a Getaway Special (GAS) container for Telesat, Canada, conducted several Mexican Payload Specialist Experiments for the Mexican Government, and tested the Orbiter Experiments Digital Autopilot (OEX DAP). This was the heaviest payload weight carried to orbit by the Space Shuttle to date. Mission duration was 165 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds.
STS-30
STS-30
STS-30 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, during which Space Shuttle Atlantis deployed the Venus-bound Magellan probe into orbit. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 4 May 1989, and landed four days later...
Atlantis (May 4-8, 1989) was a four day mission during which the crew successfully deployed the Magellan
Magellan probe
The Magellan spacecraft, also referred to as the Venus Radar Mapper, was a 1,035-kilogram robotic space probe launched by NASA on May 4, 1989, to map the surface of Venus using Synthetic Aperture Radar and measure the planetary gravity...
Venus-exploration spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
, the first U.S. planetary science mission launched since 1978, and the first planetary probe to be deployed from the Shuttle. Magellan arrived at Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
in August 1990 and radar-mapped over 95% of the surface of Venus. Magellan has been one of NASA's most successful scientific missions providing valuable information about the Venusian atmosphere and magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
. In addition, the crew also worked on secondary payloads involving Indium crystal growth, electrical storm, and earth observation studies. Mission duration was 96 hours, 57 minutes, 35 seconds.
Organizations
- Society for Professional Engineers
- Association of Space ExplorersAssociation of Space ExplorersThe Association of Space Explorers is a non-profit organization with a membership composed of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space . It was founded in 1985, and the current membership stands at 320 from 34 different countries...
- Women in Aerospace
- Tri BetaTri BetaBeta Beta Beta, also called TriBeta, is an honor society for students of biological sciences, particularly undergraduates, dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research...
- Sigma XiSigma XiSigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...
- Tau Beta PiTau Beta PiThe Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...