NASA Astronaut Nicholas Patrick During STS-130 EVA.
Nick Patrick Astronaut Portrait
Nicholas J. M. Patrick (Ph.D., P.E.)
NASA Astronaut
PERSONAL DATA: Dr. Patrick was born in 1964 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. He also considers London, England and Rye, New York to be his hometowns. He became a U.S. Citizen in 1994. His mother, Gillian Patrick, lives in Connecticut; his father, Stewart Patrick, in Pennsylvania. He is married with three children. His recreational interests include flying, fixing & building things, scuba diving, Tae Kwon Do, and reading to his children.
EDUCATION: Harrow School, London, England, 1978-82.
B.A., Engineering, University of Cambridge, England, 1986.
M.A. Cantab., Engineering, University of Cambridge, England, 1990.
S.M., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990.
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996.
ORGANIZATIONS: Dr. Patrick is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and is a registered Professional Engineer (Mechanical).
SPECIAL HONORS: Entrance scholarship (‘Exhibition’) to the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), 1983; GE Aircraft Engines Development Program Project Award for contributions to manufacturing inventory reduction, 1988; JSC Center Director’s Discretionary Award for contributions to the user-interface of the Space Shuttle’s Cockpit Avionics Upgrade, 2002. Dr. Patrick holds three patents in the areas of telerobotics, display design, and integrated aircraft alerting systems.
EXPERIENCE: While at university in England, Dr. Patrick spent his summers as a civil engineer, inspecting bridges in New York and Connecticut. After graduating from Cambridge, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked as an engineer for the Aircraft Engines Division of GE. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a research assistant in the Human-Machine Systems Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests included telerobotics, aviation psychology, decision theory, optimization, and econometrics. Upon completion of his doctorate, Dr. Patrick joined Boeing’s Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle, Washington, where he worked in Flight Deck Engineering as a systems and human-factors engineer on many of Boeing’s commercial aircraft models.
Dr. Patrick learned to fly as a member of the Royal Air Force’s Volunteer Reserve while attending Cambridge University. After moving to the United States, Dr. Patrick continued flying, eventually becoming an instrument and multi-engine flight instructor. He has logged over 2,000 hours as a pilot in more than 20 types of airplane and helicopter, including over 800 hours as a flight instructor.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Patrick reported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) for astronaut training in August 1998. His initial training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, and T-38 flight training.
When not training for spaceflight, Dr. Patrick has worked in the Astronaut Office on space shuttle’s Cockpit Avionics Upgrade program, to define the human-systems integration requirements for the Orion capsule, on the design of the Orion cockpit, and as a CAPCOM in Mission Control for STS-123 and -124.
Dr. Patrick has logged over 308 hours in space, having completed his first space mission on the crew of STS-116 – a construction and logistics mission to the International Space Station. He is currently assigned to the crew of STS-130, targeted for launch in February 2010.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-116 Discovery (December 9-22, 2006). The seven-member crew on this 12-day mission continued construction of the ISS outpost by adding the P5 truss segment and performing four spacewalks, one of which was added to allow the crew to coax and retract a stubborn solar panel to fold up like an accordion into its box. Discovery also delivered a new crew-member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116. Mission duration was 12 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.
Currently Mission Specialist onboard STS-130 preparing for return to Earth.
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