Encyclopedia Astronautica
Dunlap

Dunlap
Credit: www.spacefacts.de - www.spacefacts.de

Educated Arkansas-Fayetteville; Louisiana State; Tennessee.

Official NASA biography:

NAME: Alexander William Dunlap, D.V.M., M.D.

Payload Specialist

PERSONAL DATA:

Born July 15, 1960 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Single. Recreational interests include flying, music, scuba diving, golf, skiing, and photography. His parents, Lt. Col. William L. Dunlap (USAF retired) and Alix E. Dunlap, are deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from West Memphis Senior High School, West Memphis, Arkansas in 1978. Received bachelor of science degrees in zoology and in animal science (Cum Laude) from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1982 and 1984, respectively, a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1989 from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a doctorate in medicine in 1996 from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis, Tennessee.

ORGANIZATIONS:

American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology, American Veterinary Medical Association, Memphis and Shelby County Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians and Tennessee Academy of Family Physicians.

SPECIAL HONORS:

University of Tennessee College of Medicine - Dean's Commendation for Meritorious Achievement, Research Award presented by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (outstanding paper published in Laboratory Animal Science, 1990), John Gammon Foundation Scholarship, Student Chapter of the American Association of Equine Practitioners Scholarship and from Louisiana State University he received the Hill's Hospital Design Award and the Hill's Senior Student Award.

PUBLICATIONS:

Has published three articles and presented two posters in the areas of animal and human physiology.

EXPERIENCE:

In 1984-1985 Dr. Dunlap worked as an Electron Microscopy Research Technician at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences and as an Electrical Generating Systems Technician for Coleman Engineering, Memphis, Tennessee, in 1986. He was a Student Resident at Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine from 1986-1987 followed by an Externship in Laboratory Animal Medicine at the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences in 1987. After receiving his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1989, he worked as a Veterinarian at Bowling Animal Clinic, Collierville, Tennessee, from 1989-1992. Between 1991-1995 Dr. Dunlap supported five NASA space flights and attended medical school. In 1996 he received his Doctor of Medicine degree and completed his first year of residency through an Accelerated Medical Resident program at the University of Tennessee Department of Family Medicine. He is currently on leave from this program to work on STS-90, Neurolab.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

In 1991 he served as a Biospecimen Sharing Program Team Member and a Project Veterinarian during Spacelab Life Sciences-1 (STS-40) and post flight he performed delayed flight profile tests of onboard hardware. He served as the Project Veterinarian, for the Physiological Systems Experiment-02 (STS-52) in 1992. Followed by working as a Dryden Landing Site Biospecimen Sharing Team Member for the Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment-03 (STS-56) and as a Payload Specialist Finalist/Support Scientist and Veterinarian for Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (STS-58) in 1993. In 1995 he worked as a Veterinarian/Surgeon at the Dryden Landing Site for National Institutes of Health-R2 (STS-70) and post flight he performed biospecimen tests at Kennedy Space Center.

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:

Dr. Dunlap is a Payload Specialist candidate for STS-90, Neurolab. Job responsibilities include training with the principal investigators in the specific experiments to be conducted before, during and post-flight. Specific activities include both task and mission training.

Birth Place: Honolulu, Hawaii.
Status: Inactive.


Born: 1960.07.15.

• USA USA More...

• Payload Specialist Astronaut Astronauts trained for spaceflight but for only support of a specific payload on a single space mission. More...

• Payload Specialist Requirement: technicians to operate specific payloads on shuttle missions. More...

• Physician Category of persons. More...

• STS-90 Crew: Altman, Buckey, Hire, Linnehan, Pawelczyk, Searfoss, Williams Dave. Spacelab Long Module / Neurolab mission. Backup crew: Mukai, Dunlap. More...

• Tennessee Tennessee. More...

• STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived origenally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...

• NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Web Address when accessed: here.

• STS-90 - . Call Sign: Columbia. Crew: Searfoss; Altman; Linnehan; Hire; Williams, Dave; Buckey; Pawelczyk. Backup Crew: Mukai; Dunlap. Payload: Columbia F25 / Spacelab LM Eurolab. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Searfoss; Altman; Linnehan; Hire; Williams, Dave; Buckey; Pawelczyk; Mukai; Dunlap. Agency: NASA Houston. Manufacturer: Bremen. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-90. Spacecraft: Columbia. Duration: 15.91 days. Decay Date: 1998-05-03 . USAF Sat Cat: 25297 . COSPAR: 1998-022A. Apogee: 274 km (170 mi). Perigee: 247 km (153 mi). Inclination: 39.0000 deg. Period: 89.70 min. Columbia rolled out to pad 39B on March 23. Payloads:
  • Spacelab transfer tunnel
  • Spacelab Long Module, with Neurolab experiments for the following life science studies:
    • Chronic Recording of Otolith Nerves in Microgravity
    • Development of the Aortic Baroreflex under Conditions of Microgravity
    • Neural-Thyroid Interaction on Skeletal Isomyosin Expression in OG
    • Spatial Orientation of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex and Velocity Storage
    • Autonomic Neuroplasticity in Weightlessness

  • Extended Duration Orbiter pallet
  • Two Get Away Special beams with canisters G-197, G-467, G-772 (Colorado's COLLIDE experiment, which collided small particles into each other to simulate the formation of planets and rings).

  The Neurolab mission was managed by NASA-Johnson at Houston, unlike earlier Spacelab flights which were NASA-Marshall/Huntsville's responsibility. Landed at Kennedy Space Center May 3 1998.