Nicholas Patrick
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| Nicholas Patrick | |
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| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | British / American |
| Status | Active |
| Born | November 19, 1964 Saltburn-by-the-Sea, United Kingdom |
| Other occupation | Engineer |
| Space time | 12d 20h 45m |
| Selection | 1998 NASA Group |
| Missions | STS-116 |
| Mission insignia |
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Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick, Ph.D. is a British-born engineer and a NASA astronaut. His flight on the 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth Briton to go into space.
Patrick was born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire, England in 1964, and grew up in London. He became a United States citizen in 1994. He has a Peruvian wife (a pediatrician), and three children[citation needed].
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[edit] Education and career
Patrick was first educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (receiving an undergraduate degree in Engineering in 1986). During his university years, he learned to fly as a member of the Royal Air Force's Cambridge University Air Squadron. After Cambridge, he worked for four years as an engineer for the Aircraft Engines Division of GE, in Lynn, Massachusetts in the United States.
Patrick then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a master's degree (1990) and a PhD.(1996), both in Mechanical Engineering. Afterwards, he joined Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle.
[edit] NASA career
Patrick was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and reported to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) for astronaut training in August 1998. His initial training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, and physiological, survival, and classroom training in preparation for T-38 flight.
Patrick has logged over 308 hours in space having completed his first space mission the crew of STS-116 – a construction and logistics mission to the International Space Station. Like many in the Astronaut Corps, he also occasionally serves as a capcom, for example he worked with the Orbit 2 team for STS-120.
[edit] Spaceflight experience
STS-116 Discovery (December 9-22, 2006): The seven-member crew on this 12-day mission continued construction of the ISS outpost by adding the P5 spacer truss segment during the first of four spacewalks. The next two spacewalks rewired the station’s power system, preparing it to support the addition of European and Japanese science modules by future shuttle crews. The fourth spacewalk was added to allow the crew to coax and retract a stubborn solar panel to fold up accordion-style into its box. Discovery also delivered a new crew member and more than two tons of equipment and supplies to the station. Almost two tons of items no longer needed on the station returned to Earth with STS-116. Mission duration was 12 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.
