Nicholas_Patrick

Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that November 19 is the anniversary of the birth of British-American engineer and a former NASA astronaut Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick, Ph.D.
Happy 55th birthday Nicholas James Macdonald Patrick.

British Astronaut Nicholas Patrick Profiled on RodMcNeil.TV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEeN0bRwvQY

Images:
1. 2010 British astronaut Nicholas Patrick prepares for Nasa space launch.
2. Saltburn–born NASA engineer, Dr. Nicholas Patrick, veteran of two space shuttle missions, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree at Teesside University in Middlesbrough.
3. These seven astronauts take a break from training to pose for the STS-116 crew portrait. Scheduled to launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery are, front row (from the left), astronauts William A. Oefelein, pilot; Joan E. Higginbotham, mission specialist; and Mark L. Polansky, commander. On the back row (from the left) are astronauts Robert L. Curbeam, Nicholas J.M. Patrick, Sunita L. Williams and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, all mission specialists. Williams will join Expedition 14 in progress to serve as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. The crewmembers are attired in training versions of their shuttle launch and entry suits.
4.

Biographies
1. for schoolchildren nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/
2. NASA biography from nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/patrick_nicholas.

1. Background from nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/k-4/features/F_MS1_Nicholas_Patrick.html
"Mission Specialist Nicholas Patrick 12.13.06
"When I was 5, I saw the Apollo 11 moon landing, and that really, really caught my imagination," recalls mission specialist Nicholas Patrick.

"I remember exactly where I was, watching it with my parents. And from that point on, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. There were many other things I wanted to be as a child: an archaeologist, a boat designer, all sorts of things. But that's the one interest that's really stuck with me through my childhood and through my subsequent education and career."

To make that dream a reality, though, he had to overcome a few obstacles. Among them was the fact that he was literally an ocean away from where he needed to be. Patrick was born in England, a nation that does not have any astronauts of its own. After earning a bachelor's degree in engineering, he moved to the United States.

"I essentially emigrated and wanted to be an aerospace engineer or perhaps an astronaut," he said. Focusing first on the "sensible goal" of becoming an engineer, Patrick got a job designing jet engines. He then went back to school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a master's degree and a doctorate in mechanical engineering. He then went to work as a systems and human-factors engineer for commercial aircraft.

That accomplished, Patrick then moved on to the second part of his goal and applied to become a member of the NASA astronaut corps. NASA selected him in 1998, and he began astronaut training.

Hard work and fortitude helped him achieve the goal, but Patrick said his passion for his work was just as important. "I was really studying the things that I loved to study -- engineering, mathematics, physics, some industrial psychology; all things that fascinated me," he said. "Without that, I'm not sure I would have been able to get as far as I did. So the real key is to find the things you love and pursue those, and your interests will carry you."

Patrick says he can still remember how he felt as a child about watching the first moon landing. "I think I was amazed that anybody could be that far away; wondering whether they'd all come back safely," he said. "But the amazing thing about that was that they had just done it, and maybe this meant that we would all be going to the moon someday soon, and I wanted to be a part of that."

It's taken a little longer than he might have thought to get back to the moon, but now Patrick is, indeed, a part of that effort. "The space station is our most immediate goal in space exploration," he said. "It's the platform on which we plan to do the research that will enable us to send people into space for very, very long times. It's the place where we can test technologies like environmental controls that we will need on the moon. So I see this mission as being an integral part of the space station step in space exploration. Beyond that, we'll be going back to the moon and on to Mars."

2. NASA Biography from nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/patrick_nicholas.pdf
NICHOLAS J. M. PATRICK (PH.D., P.E.)
NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

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 California. He is married with three children. His recreational interests include flying, fixing and building things 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 registered Professional Engineer (Mechanical) and is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
SPECIAL HONORS: Honorary Doctorate from Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK, 2011; JSC Center Director’s Discretionary Award for contributions to the user interface of the shuttle cockpit avionics upgrade, 2002; General Electric (GE) Aircraft Engines Development Program Project Award for contributions to inventory reduction, 1988; entrance scholarship
(“Exhibition”) to the University of Cambridge, 1983. Dr. Patrick holds three patents in the areas of telerobotics, flight displays and integrated aircraft alerting systems.

EXPERIENCE: During his college years, 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 and optimization. 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, becoming an instrument and multi-engine Flight Instructor. He has logged more than 2,300 hours as a pilot, in more than 20 types of airplanes and helicopters, and more than 800 hours as a Flight Instructor.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Patrick reported to the Johnson Space Center for astronaut training in 1998. When not in training for a spaceflight, Dr. Patrick worked in the Astronaut Office on the space shuttle cockpit avionics upgrade program, served as Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in mission control for STS-123 and STS-124, led the team that defined the human systems integration requirements for the Orion capsule, worked on the design of the Orion cockpit, and served as the Flight Crew Representative to the
Orion program.
Dr. Patrick has logged 638 hours in space as a Mission Specialist on two International Space Station construction flights: STS-116 and STS-130. He logged more than 18 hours during three spacewalks on STS-130.
Dr. Patrick retired from NASA in June 2012

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Biographical Data
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
SPACEFLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-116 Discovery (December 9 to December 22, 2006). The seven-member crew on this 12-day mission continued construction of the International Space Station 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.

Mission duration was 12 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.
STS-130 Endeavour (February 8 to February 21, 2010) launched at night, carrying the International Space Station’s final permanent modules: Tranquility and Cupola. Tranquility (or Node 3) is now the life-support hub of the station, containing exercise, water recycling and environmental control systems, while the Cupola provides the largest set of windows ever to grace a spacecraft.
These seven windows, arranged in a hemisphere, provide a spectacular and panoramic view of our planet and a direct view of station robotic operations. During the 13-day, 18-hour mission, Endeavour and her six-member crew traveled more than 5.7 million miles and completed 217 orbits of the Earth, touching down at night at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
JUNE 2012"


FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William Jones SGT (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnellSGT Mark AndersonCPT Daniel CoxSFC Jack ChampionA1C Ian WilliamsSP5 Jeannie CarleSPC Chris Bayner-CwikTSgt David L.PO1 Robert George

Excellent biography and history share sir.

I love seeing us work with our allies