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Astrograds


Since the 1960s, 17 Stanford graduates have served on NASA spaceflights, working as pilots, flight engineers, scientists and medical researchers. Highlights from their careers:




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The Voyagers

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Owen Garriott, MS '57, PhD '60
Studied: electrical engineering
NASA tour: 1965-1986
In space: one Skylab mission and two shuttle flights; his 59-day Skylab stay in 1973 set a U.S. single-flight duration record.

Bruce McCandless, MS '65
Studied: electrical engineering
NASA tour: 1966-1990
In space: two shuttle flights; helped deploy the Hubble space telescope during his second mission in 1990.

Sally Ride, '73, MS '75, PhD '78
Studied: physics
NASA tour: 1979-1987
In space: two shuttle flights; helped study the effects of microgravity on the social behavior of an ant colony.

William Fisher, '68
Studied: psychology
NASA tour: 1981-1991
In space: one shuttle flight; took an 11-hour spacewalk in September 1985 to repair an ailing Navy satellite.

David Low, MS '83
Studied: aeronautics and astronautics
NASA tour: 1985-1996
In space: three shuttle flights; took a 6-hour 1993 spacewalk with fellow alum Jeff Wisoff to position antennae on a European satellite.

Tamara Jernigan, '81, MS '83
Studied: physics, engineering science
NASA tour: 1986-present
In space: four shuttle flights; used an ultraviolet telescope to study the cosmos on a 16-day mission in 1995.

Mae Jemison, '77
Studied: chemical engineering
NASA tour: 1987-1993
In space: one shuttle flight; co-investigator on a bone-cell research experiment during a 1992 mission.

Eileen Collins, MS '86
Studied: operations research
NASA tour: 1991-present
In space: two shuttle flights; piloted first rendezvous with the Mir space station in 1995.

Susan Helms, MS '85
Studied: aeronautics and astronautics
NASA tour: 1991-present
In space: three shuttle flights; used floating toys on a 1993 mission to demonstrate physics to a TV audience of schoolchildren.

Ellen Ochoa, MS '81, PhD '89
Studied: electrical engineering
NASA tour: 1991-present
In space: two shuttle flights; used robot arm to deploy and capture the Spartan research satellite in 1993.

Jeff Wisoff, MS '82, PhD '86
Studied: applied physics
NASA tour: 1991-present
In space: three shuttle flights; took a 6-hour spacewalk with alum David Low to position antennae on a European satellite in 1993.

Scott Parazynski, '83, MD '89
Studied: biological sciences, medicine
NASA tour: 1992-present
In space: two shuttle flights; navigated a 1997 rendezvous with Mir space station.

Steve Smith, '81, MS '82, MBA '87
Studied: electrical engineering, business
NASA tour: 1992-present
In space: two shuttle flights; mapped global carbon monoxide pollution in 1994.

Edward Lu, PhD '89
Studied: applied physics
NASA tour: 1995-present
In space: one shuttle flight; docked with the Mir space station in 1997.

Stephen Robinson, MS '85, PhD '91
Studied: mechanical engineering
NASA tour: 1995-present
In space: one shuttle flight; used ultraviolet telescope to study Hale-Bopp in 1997.

Gregory Linteris, MS '84
Studied: mechanical engineering
NASA tour: 1996-1997
In space: two shuttle flights; oversaw experiments studying effects of fire in microgravity.

Edward "Mike" Fincke, MS '90
Studied: aeronautics and astronautics
NASA tour: 1997-present
In space: recently qualified for shuttle assignment.