Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper named to shuttle mission in 2003 (03/17/02)

Astronaut Stefanyshyn-Piper named to shuttle mission in 2003

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Cmdr. Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper (U.S. Navy), who completed NASA's astronaut training program in April of 1998, has been assigned to a space shuttle mission now scheduled for April 2003, and thus will become the first Ukrainian American to fly in space.

Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper, 39, was named to the six-member crew of the STS-115 mission, led by veteran shuttle commander Brent W. Jett Jr. (commander-select, U.S. Navy). Cmdr. Jett's crew also includes his pilot, Christopher J. Ferguson (commander, U.S. Navy), who will make his first flight into space, and veteran astronauts Joseph R. Tanner, Daniel C. Burbank (commander, U.S. Coast Guard) and Steven G. MacLean, Ph.D., (Canadian Space Agency). The mission will deliver and attach the second port truss segment to the International Space Station.

The announcement of the STS-115 crew came on February 26; also named was the crew for STS 116, also scheduled for 2003.

Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper was named an astronaut candidate by NASA in April 1996, and reported to the Johnson Space Center that August. She then completed two years of training and evaluation, after which she was qualified and was eagerly awaiting a flight assignment on either the space shuttle, or the International Space Station as a mission specialist.

Two years ago, the astronaut-in-waiting told The Ukrainian Weekly that since she holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she could be tapped as a flight engineer on the crew.

Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper received her commission from the Navy ROTC Program at MIT in June 1985. She completed training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Fla., as a Navy basic diving officer and salvage officer. She completed several tours of duty as an engineering duty officer in the area of ship maintenance and repair, qualified as a surface warfare officer, and is a qualified and experienced salvage officer.

Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper was born in St. Paul, Minn., on February 7, 1963, and was an active member of the Twin Cities Ukrainian community in her youth - most notably in the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization (she is featured in the Plast film celebrating the youth organization's 50th anniversary in the United States), the local Ukrainian dance ensemble, the school of Ukrainian studies and St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Her mother, Adelheid Stefanyshyn, continues to reside in St. Paul; her father, Michael Stefanyshyn, is deceased. In addition to her involvement in the Minneapolis Ukrainian community, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper cultivated her German roots as her mother was a German immigrant. Thus, she has spoken both Ukrainian and German fluently since childhood.

In the Houston area, where she now resides with her husband, fellow astronaut Glenn A. Piper, and their son, she is a member of the Ukrainian American Cultural Club of Houston.

In 1996, after she was selected for the astronaut training program, Cmdr. Stefanyshyn-Piper told a Navy publication that she had joined the space program for the same reason she became a diver: "I was looking for something challenging that would broaden my horizons." She said her work as a diver had given her a chance to work in a foreign environment, adding that "space is the ultimate foreign environment, and it really is the final frontier."

Two years later, after completing her training, she said her dream was "to do a space walk." She explained to a Weekly reporter that she hoped to complete a space walk with a division of the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activities) at the International Space Station.

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