Chapter 15, Annex H ASTRONAUT JULIE PAYETTE
ASTRONAUT JULIE PAYETTE
Julie Payette enjoys running, skiing, racquet sports and scuba diving. She has a commercial pilot licence with float rating. Fluent in French and English, she can converse in Spanish, Italian, Russian and German. She plays the piano and has sung with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Piacere Vocale in Basel, Switzerland and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. She is married and has two children.
MISSIONS
STS-96
Mission: Second International Space Station Flight.
Space Shuttle: Discovery.
Launched: May 27, 1999, 6:49:42 a.m. EDT.
Landed: June 6, 1999, 2:02:43 a.m. EDT.
Mission Duration: 10 days.
Orbit Altitude: 173 nautical miles.
Mission Highlights
All major objectives were accomplished during the mission. On May 29th, Discovery made the first docking to the ISS as it flew over the Russian-Kazakh border.
The 45th space walk in space shuttle history and the fourth of the ISS era took place during this mission. Astronauts transferred a US-built crane called the orbital transfer device and parts of the Russian crane Strela from the shuttle’s payload bay and attached them to locations on the outside of the station. The astronauts also installed two new portable foot restraints, which will fit both American and Russian space boots, and they attached three bags filled with tools and handrails for use during future assembly operations.
The crew transferred 3 567 pounds of material, including clothing, sleeping bags, spare parts, medical equipment, supplies, hardware and about 84 gallons of water, to the interior of the station. The astronauts also installed parts of a wireless strain gauge system to help engineers track the effects of adding modules to the station throughout its assembly.
The astronauts spent a total of 79 hours, 30 minutes inside the station. Before departure, a series of 17 pulses of Discovery’s reaction control system jets boosted the station to an orbit of approximately 246 statute miles. After spending 5 days, 18 hours and 17 minutes linked to the station, Discovery undocked at 6:39 p.m. EDT. Discovery’s jets fired to move to a distance of about 400 feet for a 2-1/2 lap fly-around during which the crew made a detailed photographic record of the ISS.
After the fly-around, mission specialist Julie Payette deployed the Starshine satellite from the orbiter’s cargo bay. The spherical, reflective object entered an orbit two miles below Discovery. The small probe became instantly visible from Earth as part of a project allowing more than 25 000 students from 18 countries to track its progress. Other payloads included the Shuttle Vibration Forces experiment and the Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring for the Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Technology Demonstration.
PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH
Born October 20, 1963, in Montréal, Que.
EDUCATION
Julie Payette’s education includes:
primary and secondary school in Montréal, Que.,
International Baccalaureate from United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, UK,
Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical cum laude from McGill University, Montréal, and
Master of Applied Science, Computer Engineering, from the University of Toronto.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Before joining the space program, Julie Payette conducted research in computer systems, natural language processing and automatic speech recognition.
Her previous employment included:
system engineer with IBM Canada (1986–1988),
research assistant at the University of Toronto (1988–1990),
visiting scientist at the IBM Research Laboratory, in Zurich, Switzerland (1991),
research engineer with BNR/Northern in Montréal (1992), and
in June 1992, the Canadian Space Agency selected Ms. Payette from 5 330 applicants to become one of four astronauts.
After her basic training in Canada, she worked as a technical advisor for the Mobile Servicing System (MSS Canadarm2), an advanced robotics system contributed by Canada to the ISS. In preparation for a space mission assignment, Payette obtained her commercial pilot license, studied Russian and logged 120 hours as a research operator on board reduced gravity aircraft. In April 1996, Payette was certified as a one-atmosphere, deep-sea diving suit operator. Payette obtained her military pilot captaincy on the CT-114 Tutor jet at the Canadian Forces Base in Moose Jaw, Sask. in February 1996. She obtained her military instrument rating in 1997. She has logged more than 1 200 hours of flight time.
Payette reported to the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in August 1996. She completed initial astronaut training in April 1998 and was assigned to work on technical issues in robotics for the Astronaut Office. In the spring of 1999, she visited the ISS aboard STS-96.
From September 1999, to December 2002, Payette was assigned to represent the astronaut corps at the European and Russian space agencies where she supervised procedure development, equipment verification and space hardware processing for the ISS Program.
After January 2003, Payette worked as a CapCom (Spacecraft Communicator) at Mission Control Center in Houston and was Lead CapCom for Space Shuttle mission STS-121 in 2006. The CapCom is responsible for all communications between ground controllers and the astronauts in flight.
SPECIAL HONOURS
Julie Payette’s special honours include:
recipient of a scholarship to attend the Atlantic College in Wales, UK,
recipient of a Greville-Smith Scholarship (highest undergraduate award at McGill University),
McGill University Faculty Scholar (1983–1986),
recipient of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Scholarship,
recipient of a Massey College Fellowship,
recipient of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers Exceptional Achievement Award,
recipient of the Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade de la francophonie,
Ordre national du Québec,
recipient of honorary Degrees from:
Queen’s University,
University of Ottawa,
Simon Fraser University,
Université Laval,
University of Regina,
Royal Roads University,
University of Toronto,
University of Victoria,
Nipissing University,
McGill University,
Mount Saint Vincent University,
McMaster University,
University of Lethbridge,
Mount Allison University, and
University of Alberta.
AFFILIATIONS
Julie Payette’s affiliations include:
Member of l’Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec,
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering,
Queen’s University Board of Directors,
Former Governor-in-Council for NSERC, and
Les Amies d’affaires du Ritz.
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