NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn is bringing his 337 days of spaceflight expertise to a non-public firm.
Marshburn flew to the International Space Station (ISS) three separate occasions, in 2009, 2012-2013 and 2021-2022. He rode to and from the ISS on a distinct car every time, making orbital journeys aboard NASA’s space shuttle, a Russian Soyuz and a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
The previous flight surgeon introduced his retirement from NASA on Thursday (Dec. 1). Marshburn is shifting on to Sierra House; he will likely be chief medical officer for its human spaceflight middle and astronaut coaching academy, as the corporate continues designing a NASA-funded space station.
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Sierra House is working to place its Dream Chaser spacecraft for contracted NASA cargo missions to the ISS, together with military cargo flights. The spacecraft additionally will likely be used for flights for personal astronauts within the coming years, Sierra House has mentioned, together with to a non-public space station referred to as Orbital Reef. (Orbital Reef is amongst a number of envisioned non-public complexes collectively supported by $415 million in NASA funding introduced in December 2021. NASA hopes a number of of those non-public stations finally substitute the ISS, which the company expects to make use of till at least 2030.)
“I stay up for creating and growing the foundations, rules and coaching that may guarantee Sierra House correctly equips the longer term astronaut corps with the instruments to succeed,” Marshburn mentioned in an announcement.
Marshburn was with NASA for 28 years, serving for a decade as a flight surgeon and for 18 years as an astronaut. His spaceflight medical expertise contains supporting NASA personnel working at Russia’s coaching middle in Star Metropolis outdoors Moscow, serving as co-chair of medical operations for space shuttle visits to the Russian space station Mir, and main medical operations for the ISS.
His departure to the non-public sector is turning into extra typical for NASA astronauts lately, with current examples additionally together with Peggy Whitson and Michael López-AlegrÃa to Axiom Space. Houston-based Axiom operates non-public missions to the ISS and is working to construct its personal NASA-supported space station within the coming decade.
Associated: NASA looks to private outposts to build on International Space Station’s legacy
A few of Marshburn’s different profession highlights embody performing an emergency restore to a leaking ISS ammonia pump throughout a spacewalk in 2013, days earlier than touchdown with a Soyuz crew. The Expedition 34/35 crew that included Canadian Chris Hadfield and Marshburn was additionally one of many most scientifically productive of that period, based on Canadian House Company officers talking to House.com on the time.
Marshburn’s different missions included the STS-127 shuttle flight in 2009, whose main activity was finishing building of the Japanese Kibo module on the ISS, and SpaceX’s Crew-3 from November 2021 to Might 2022. On Crew-3, Marshburn’s ultimate mission, he piloted the Crew Dragon and labored with a crew that accomplished 250 experiments aboard the ISS, based on NASA statistics (opens in new tab).
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a ebook about space drugs. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
