Nancy Currie-Gregg

Nancy Currie-Gregg is an American engineer, professor, and former NASA astronaut. A veteran of four Space Shuttle missions, she played critical roles in early International Space Station assembly and servicing the Hubble Space Telescope. Her career at NASA spanned over two decades, where she served as a flight engineer and robotics specialist before transitioning to senior engineering and academic roles.

Early life and education

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, she spent much of her youth in Troy, Ohio. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biological science from The Ohio State University in 1980. She then received a Master of Science in safety engineering from the University of Southern California in 1985. Her formal education continued with a doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Houston in 1997, solidifying her expertise in human factors and systems engineering.

NASA career

Selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 13 in 1990, she began her career at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Prior to her first flight, she supported numerous missions in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and served as a spacecraft communicator, or CAPCOM, in Mission Control Center, Houston. She held key positions in the Astronaut Office, contributing to the development of robotics procedures and crew training for both the Space Shuttle program and the nascent International Space Station.

Spaceflight experience

Her first mission was STS-57 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993, which featured the retrieval of the European Retrievable Carrier satellite. She served as a mission specialist and primary Remote Manipulator System operator. On STS-70 in 1995, flying on Space Shuttle Discovery, she again operated the shuttle's robotic arm to deploy a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. Her most historically significant flight was STS-88 in 1998, the first International Space Station assembly mission, where she expertly used the Canadarm to join the American Unity (ISS module) with the Russian Zarya (ISS module). Her final flight was STS-109 in 2002 aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope where she operated the robotic arm to support spacewalks.

Post-NASA career

After retiring from NASA in 2005, she joined the United States Army as a senior engineer, applying her spaceflight experience to terrestrial challenges. She served as a principal engineer at the United States Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. She later transitioned to academia, becoming a research professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. There, she directs research in human-systems integration, cognitive engineering, and resilience engineering.

Awards and honors

Her distinguished service has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the NASA Space Flight Medal (four times), the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. Her contributions to engineering education and research have also been honored by institutions like The Ohio State University and the University of Houston.

Category:American astronauts Category:NASA astronauts Category:1958 births Category:Living people