Pamela Melroy

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Pamela Melroy

NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Active
Born	September 17, 1961 (1961-09-17) (age 46) Palo Alto, California
Other occupation	Test Pilot
Rank	Colonel, USAF (retired)
Space time	38 days, 20 hours, 04 minutes
Selection	1994 NASA Group
Missions	STS-92, STS-112, STS-120
Mission insignia

Pamela Anne Melroy (born 17 September 1961) is a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120.

1 Early life and education
2 Military career
3 NASA career
4 References

[edit] Early life and education

Melroy received a bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy from Wellesley College in 1983. She then earned a master's degree in earth and planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984. On May 18, 2008 Melroy received an honorary degree from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.

[edit] Military career

She earned her commission in the United States Air Force through the ROTC program. She flew combat missions during the 1991 Gulf War, graduated from the United States Air Force Test Pilot School in July 1991 as a member of class 91B, and subsequently became a C-17 test pilot, assigned to Edwards Air Force Base. She retired from the Air Force in 2007.

[edit] NASA career

Melroy was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1994 and trained as a shuttle pilot. She has piloted two space shuttle missions, both visits to the International Space Station: STS-92 in 2000 and STS-112 in 2002. On June 19, 2006, NASA announced that Melroy would command the STS-120 mission, making her the second woman to command a space shuttle mission (after Eileen Collins).^[1] The STS-120 crew visited the station during Expedition 16, which is commanded by Peggy Whitson. Whitson is the first female ISS commander, making the STS-120 mission the first time that two female mission commanders were in orbit at the same time.^[2]^[3]