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astronautix.com Currie
Nancy Jane Currie (nee Sherlock) Status: Active. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Mission Specialist. Sex: Female. Marital Status: Married. Children: One. Birth Date: 29 December 1958. Birth City: Wilmington. Birth State: Delaware. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1990 NASA Group. Date Selected: 17 January 1990. Number of Flights: 3. Total Time: 30.72 days.

NASA Official Biography

NAME: Nancy Jane Currie, Ph.D. (Major, USA)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:
Born December 29, 1958, in Wilmington, Delaware, but considers Troy, Ohio, to be her hometown. Married to David W. Currie (CW5, USA) of Hookstown, Pennsylvania. One daughter. She enjoys running, swimming, triathlons, weight lifting, skiing, and scuba diving. Her parents, Warren & Shirley Decker, reside in Troy. His mother, Mrs. Delores Simmons, resides in Freedom, Pennsylvania. His father, Mr. Lee Currie, is deceased.

EDUCATION:
Graduated from Troy High School, Troy, Ohio, in 1977; received a bachelor of arts degree in biological science from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, in 1980, a master of science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California in 1985, and a doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Houston in 1997.

ORGANIZATIONS:
Member of Army Aviation Association of America, Phi Kappa Phi, Ohio State University and ROTC Alumni Associations, Institute of Industrial Engineers, and Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

SPECIAL HONORS:
Arts and Sciences Award for Scholarship, Ohio State University (1980), Distinguished Graduate of the Army Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic Course (1981), Honor Graduate of the Army Rotary Wing Aviator Course (1982), Honor Graduate of the Army Aviation Officer Advanced Course (1986), NASA Flight Simulation Engineering Award (1988), NASA Space Flight Medal (1993, 1995), Defense Superior Service Medal (1993), Ohio Veteran's Hall of Fame (1994), Troy, Ohio Hall of Fame (1996), Silver Order of St. Michael, Army Aviation Award (1997), Ohio State University Army ROTC Hall of Fame (1996).

EXPERIENCE:
Following graduation, Nancy served as a neuropathology research assistant at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in July 1981, and attended the Air Defense Officer Basic Course and the United States Army Aviation School. Following flight training she was assigned to Fort Rucker, Alabama as a helicopter instructor pilot. She also served as a section leader, platoon leader, and brigade flight standardization officer for all phases of rotary wing flight, including combat skills and night vision goggle operations. Prior to her assignment at NASA she completed the Aviation Officer Advanced Course, the Combined Arms Services Staff School, and the Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Qualification Course. A senior army aviator, she has logged 3,500 flying hours in a variety of rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE:
Assigned to NASA Johnson Space Center in September 1987 as a flight simulation engineer on the Shuttle Training Aircraft, a complex airborne simulator which models flight characteristics of the Orbiter. Selected by NASA in January 1990, she became an astronaut in July 1991. Nancy has held various technical assignments within the Astronaut Office including: flight crew representative for crew equipment; Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS); spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) providing a communications interface between ground controllers and flight crews. A veteran of two space flights, she has logged over 454 hours in space. She was a mission specialist on STS-57 in 1993, and STS-70 in 1995.

STS-57 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 21, 1993, and returned there on July 1, 1993. The primary objective of this flight was the retrieval of the European Retrievable Carrier satellite (EURECA) using the RMS. Additionally, this mission featured the first flight of Spacehab, a commercially-provided middeck augmentation module for the conduct of microgravity experiments, as well as a spacewalk by two crew members, which also involved the use of the Shuttle's robotic arm. Spacehab carried 22 individual flight experiments in materials and life sciences research. STS-57 was accomplished in 155 orbits of the Earth in 239 hours.

STS-70 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on July 13, 1995, and returned there July 22, 1995. The five-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the final NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite to complete the constellation of NASA's orbiting communication satellite system. The crew also conducted a myriad of biomedical and remote sensing experiments. During this 8 day 22 hour mission, the crew completed 142 orbits of the Earth, traveling 3.7 million miles. STS-70 was the first mission controlled from NASA's new combined control center.

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:
Nancy Currie will serve on the crew of STS-88, the first Space Shuttle mission to carry hardware to space for the assembly of the International Space Station. Launch is targeted for July 1998.

MAY 1997

Flight Log

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