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Educated Purdue; Edwards. USAF test pilot. Total EVA Time: 2.44 days. Number of EVAs: 9.
Ross has flown in 21 different types of aircraft, holds a private pilot's license, and has logged over 2,800 flying hours, the majority in military aircraft.
Ross was selected as an astronaut in May 1980. His technical assignments since then have included: EVA, RMS, and chase team; support crewman for STS 41-B, 41-C and 51-A; spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) during STS 41-B, 41-C, 41-D, 51-A and 51-D; Chief of the Mission Support Branch; member of the 1990 Astronaut Selection Board; and Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. A veteran of five space flights, Ross has logged 850 hours in space, including nearly 23 hours on four spacewalks.
Ross was a mission specialist on the crew of STS 61-B which launched at night from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 26, 1985. During the mission the crew deployed the MORELOS-B, AUSSAT II, and SATCOM Ku-2 communications satellites, conducted two 6-hour space walks to demonstrate Space Station construction techniques with the EASE/ACCESS experiments, and operated numerous other experiments. After completing 108 orbits of the Earth in 165 hours, STS 61-B Atlantis landed on Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 3, 1985.
Ross then flew as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-27, on board the Orbiter Atlantis, which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988. The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, as well as a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the earth in 105 hours, the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988.
Ross flew as a mission specialist on STS-37 aboard the Orbiter Atlantis. The mission launched from KSC on April 5, 1991, and deployed the 35,000 pound Gamma Ray Observatory. Ross performed two space walks totaling 10 hours and 49 minutes to manually deploy the stuck Gamma Ray Observatory antenna and to test prototype Space Station Freedom hardware. After 93 orbits of the Earth in 144 hours, the mission concluded with a landing on Runway 33, at Edwards Air Force Base, on April 11, 1991.
From April 26, 1993 through May 6, 1993, Ross flew as Payload Commander/Mission Specialist on STS-55 aboard the Orbiter Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 22, after 160 orbits of the Earth in 240 hours. Nearly 90 experiments were conducted during the German-sponsored Spacelab D-2 mission to investigate life sciences, material sciences, physics, robotics, astronomy, and the Earth and its atmosphere.
Most recently, Ross was a mission specialist on STS-74, NASA's second Space Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. STS-74 launched on November 12, 1995, and landed at Kennedy Space Center on November 20, 1995. During the 8 day flight the crew aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis attached a permanent docking module to Mir, conducted a number of secondary experiments, and transferred 1-1/2 tons of supplies and experiment equipment between Atlantis and the Mir station. The STS-74 mission was accomplished in 129 orbits of the Earth, traveling 3.4 million miles in 196 hours, 30 minutes, 44 seconds.
Birth Place: Crown Point, Indiana.
Status: Active.
Born: 1948.01.20.
Spaceflights: 7 .
Total time in space: 58.04 days.
Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm..
On December 5 at 22:25 GMT Nancy Currie unberthed the Unity space station node from the payload bay using the RMS arm. She then moved the Unity to a position docked to the Orbiter Docking System in the payload bay in readiness for assembly with the Russian-launched Zarya FGB ISS component. After rendezvous with the Zarya FGB module, on December 6 at 23:47 GMT Endeavour grappled Zarya with the robot arm, and at 02:07 GMT on December 7 it was soft docked to the PMA-1 port on Unity. After some problems hard dock was achieved at 02:48 GMT. Unity and Zarya then formed the core of the future International Space Station. Ross and Newman made three space walks to connect cables between Zarya and Unity, on December 7, 9 and 12. On the last EVA a canvas tool bag was attached to the exterior of Unity to provide tools for future station assembly workers. Docking cables were disconnected to prevent Unity and Zarya from inadvertently undocking. Following an internal examination of the embryonic space station, Endeavour undocked at 20:30 GMT on December 13. The SAC-A and Mightysat satellites were ejected from the payload bay on December 14 and 15. Deorbit burn was December 16 at 03:48 GMT, and Endeavour landed at 04:53:29 GMT, on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center.
Payloads included:
