WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- Veteran spacewalker and flight surgeon Tom Marshburn is retiring from NASA after
28 years, including 18 years as an astronaut. His last day with the
agency is Saturday, Dec. 31.
As an astronaut, Marshburn spent 337 days in space, traveling to
the International Space Station three times on three different
spacecraft – the space shuttle, Soyuz, and SpaceX Crew Dragon --
and performed five spacewalks during his three spaceflights.
The Statesville, North
Carolina, native recently served as pilot for NASA's SpaceX
Crew-3 mission to the space station, the third long-duration
mission for the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Throughout the mission,
Marshburn and his Expedition 66/67 crewmates performed more than
250 scientific investigations designed to benefit all of humanity
and help future exploration.
During the Crew-3 mission, astronauts worked on a variety of
plant growth experiments, testing new systems for growing
crops and studying potentially drought-resistant cotton
plants. In addition, they tested a handheld
bioprinter designed to create bandages made from skin cells
directly onto a wound, and a miniature scanning
electron microscope. Crew members also installed a new device
to support studies on fire safety in microgravity, and
conducted one of the first archaeological experiments in
space. Marshburn also took part in a spacewalk that
successfully replaced a faulty antenna on the Port-1
truss structure.
"Tom Marshburn is an exceptional
example of the astronauts that walk the halls here at NASA. His
positive contributions to our mission as a flight surgeon,
astronaut, and mentor have left an indelible impact," said
Norm Knight, director of Flight
Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Future crew members and colleagues
will continue to benefit from his work as we continue to
revolutionize spaceflight in low-Earth orbit and on our Artemis
missions to the Moon and to Mars."
Dr. Marshburn came to Johnson
in November 1994 as a flight surgeon,
assigned to support space shuttle medical operations and the joint
U.S./Russian space program. The certified emergency physician spent
years supporting NASA personnel deployed to the Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center, Star City,
Russia, and was co‐chair of
medical operations for the Shuttle/Mir Program. He was medical
operations lead for the space station until being selected to
become an astronaut in May 2004.
"I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to Tom for his
dedication and service to human space exploration," said, NASA's
Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa
Wyche. "Tom's leadership and achievements to benefit
humanity throughout the duration of his career with the agency will
bequeath and inspire the next the generation of explorers, the
Artemis generation, who will carry us to even greater heights."
Dr. Marshburn completed astronaut candidate training in
February 2006. His first spaceflight
was in 2009 aboard the shuttle Endeavour. Highlights of the 15-day
STS-127 mission to the station included a record 13 astronauts
working aboard the station representing all five international
partner agencies, and delivery of the Japanese‐built Exposed
Facility and the Experiment Logistics Module-Exposed Section. He
performed three spacewalks during the mission. His second
spaceflight launched in December 2012
aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. During his first long-duration flight,
Expedition 34/35, he logged more than 146 days in space, and 5
hours and 30 minutes of emergency spacewalk time to replace a
leaking ammonia pump.
"It's beyond difficult to say farewell to the friends and
colleagues I've worked with around the world over the past 28
years," Dr. Marshburn said. "It has been the honor of my life to
have participated in our nation's human spaceflight endeavors,
especially with my immensely talented and visionary colleagues
throughout NASA. They've been on the forefront of enabling private
companies to join the human spaceflight community and I'm excited
for the new challenges ahead."
Dr. Marshburn graduated from Henderson
High School, Atlanta,
Georgia, in 1978. He received a bachelor's degree in physics
from Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, in 1982, a master's
in engineering physics from the University of
Virginia, Charlottesville,
in 1984, a doctorate in medicine from Wake
Forest University, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, in 1989, and a master's in medical science
from the University of Texas Medical
Branch in Galveston in 1997.
Learn more about how NASA explores the unknown and innovates for
the benefit of humanity at:
https://www.nasa.gov/
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SOURCE NASA