- In full:
- Stephanie Diana Wilson
- Born:
- September 27, 1966, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. (age 60)
Stephanie Wilson
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Who is Stephanie Wilson?
Stephanie Wilson, born on September 27, 1966, is an American astronaut. She has flown to the International Space Station (ISS) three times aboard the space shuttle Discovery. Wilson is also part of the Artemis team, planning to send astronauts to the Moon in the mid-2020s.
Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Harvard University in 1988 and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992. NASA selected her as an astronaut in 1996. Her first spaceflight was on the STS-121 mission of the space shuttle Discovery in 2006.
In 2020, Wilson was chosen as one of the astronauts for the Artemis program, which aims to return American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
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What is Stephanie Wilson known for?
Stephanie Wilson, born on September 27, 1966, is an American astronaut notable for her three spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the space shuttle Discovery. She is also part of the Artemis team, which aims to send astronauts to the Moon in the mid-2020s. Wilson was the second Black woman in space, after Mae Jemison. During her missions, she operated the robotic arms of the shuttle and ISS to attach modules and move equipment. On her three spaceflights, Wilson spent almost 43 days in space. In 2020, she was selected as one of the astronauts for the Artemis program, planning to return American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
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Which space agency does Stephanie Wilson work for?
Stephanie Wilson is an American astronaut who was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996. She has flown three spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) on the space shuttle Discovery. In 2020, Wilson was chosen as one of the astronauts eligible to fly in the Artemis program.
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What missions has Stephanie Wilson flown as an astronaut?
Stephanie Wilson, an American astronaut, has flown three spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
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STS-121: Launched on July 4, 2006, this mission tested safety procedures after the Columbia disaster. Wilson operated Discovery’s robotic arm to check for damage and used the ISS’s robotic arm to attach the Leonardo supply module.
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STS-120: Launched on October 23, 2007, Wilson again operated the robotic arms to help attach the Harmony module to the ISS, move an ISS truss, and assist in four spacewalks.
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STS-131: Launched on April 5, 2010, Wilson and Japanese astronaut Yamazaki Naoko used the ISS’s arm to attach the Leonardo module. This mission set a record with four women in space simultaneously: Wilson, Yamazaki, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, and Tracy Caldwell-Dyson.
Across these three missions, Wilson spent almost 43 days in space.
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What did Stephanie Wilson do during her missions in space?
During her three missions to the International Space Station (ISS), Stephanie Wilson played key roles using robotic arms. On STS-121, her first spaceflight, she and Lisa Nowak checked for damage to the Discovery space shuttle using its robotic arm.
On STS-120, Wilson used the robotic arms of both the shuttle and the ISS to install the Harmony module and move an ISS truss.
During STS-131, Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki used the ISS's robotic arm to attach the Leonardo module to the station. On this flight, with the addition of Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger and Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, the four astronauts set a record for the most women in space at the same time. Across her three spaceflights, Wilson spent about 43 days in space.
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How has Stephanie Wilson inspired others in the field of space exploration?
Stephanie Wilson, the second Black woman in space, inspires many through her remarkable achievements and dedication to space exploration. Her three missions to the International Space Station (ISS) on the space shuttle Discovery, demonstrate her expertise and commitment to advancing space travel. As part of the Artemis team, Wilson is also set to contribute to lunar missions, potentially inspiring future generations of astronauts, particularly women and people of color, to pursue careers in STEM fields. Wilson's career, marked by her work on the Titan IV rocket and the Galileo spacecraft, showcases her significant contributions to aerospace engineering and her role in pushing the boundaries of human spaceflight.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Stephanie Wilson (born September 27, 1966, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.) is an American astronaut who has made three spaceflights to the International Space Station (ISS) on the space shuttle Discovery and is part of the Artemis team of astronauts who are to fly to the Moon in the mid-2020s. She was the second Black woman in space, after Mae Jemison.
Wilson received a bachelor’s degree in engineering science from Harvard University in 1988. She then went to the aerospace company Martin Marietta in Denver, where she worked on the Titan IV rocket until 1990. She earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992. She then worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she was responsible for the pointing accuracy of the Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. Wilson was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996 and then trained for two years to be eligible to fly into space.
In 2002 Wilson was assigned to her first spaceflight, as part of the crew of the space shuttle mission STS-120, which would have launched to the ISS in 2004. However, after the Columbia disaster in February 2003, in which seven astronauts died when that shuttle broke apart in the atmosphere during reentry, a shuttle did not return to space until July 2005. Wilson’s first spaceflight was the STS-121 mission of the space shuttle Discovery, which launched on July 4, 2006, to the ISS. STS-121 was the second flight after the Columbia disaster, and thus a key aim of the mission was testing safety procedures that would detect shuttle orbiter damage like that which doomed Columbia. Wilson and astronaut Lisa Nowak operated Discovery’s robotic arm, which had a sensor system attached, to check that Discovery’s wings and underside were not damaged. Wilson used the ISS’s robotic arm to attach an Italian-built supply module, Leonardo, to the ISS and then place Leonardo back in Discovery’s cargo bay for return to Earth. Discovery was in space more than 12 days.
Wilson went into space again, this time on the rescheduled STS-120 mission, which launched on October 23, 2007. The space shuttle Discovery carried the Harmony module to the ISS, and Wilson once again operated the robotic arms of the shuttle and the ISS, this time to help attach Harmony to the ISS, to move an ISS truss to a new location, and to assist in the four space walks that took place during the mission. STS-120 spent 15 days in orbit.
Wilson returned to the ISS on Discovery on her third spaceflight, STS-131, which launched on April 5, 2010. Discovery again carried the Leonardo module, and Wilson and Japanese astronaut Yamazaki Naoko used the ISS’s arm to attach it to the station. When Wilson, Yamazaki, and their fellow Discovery astronaut, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, joined Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, who was already on the ISS, the four set a record for the most women in space at the same time. STS-131 spent 15 days in orbit, which means that, on her three spaceflights, Wilson spent almost 43 days in space.
In 2020 Wilson was chosen for the group of 18 astronauts eligible to fly in the Artemis program, which is to return American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972. On the Artemis IV mission, scheduled for 2028, two astronauts are to land on the lunar surface. Those astronauts, whom NASA has said will be the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, are to spend almost a week in the Moon’s south polar region.
Wilson was scheduled to launch to the ISS on the SpaceX Crew-9 mission in September 2024. She was to have spent about six months in space. However, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner arrived in June 2024, with two astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams. Because of problems with Starliner’s propulsion system. NASA decided in August that SpaceX Crew-9 would launch with two astronauts instead of the original four and that Wilmore and Williams would return to Earth with Crew-9. Wilson was one of the two bumped from Crew-9.
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