"Submariner In Space" Program Delayed
With last night's launch of Endeavour, I was wondering how close the planned launch of the first "submariner in space" was, so I went to the NASA website -- and found that we'll have to wait a little while longer. CAPT Stephen Bowen was originally scheduled to go on the next flight, but he got pushed back two flights when he lost his rack to a "rider" -- astronauts for the ISS. Now we'll have to wait until September for CAPT Bowen's flight.
posted by Bubblehead at 5:36 AM
5 Comments:
Mayhaps he was dink in his quals? ;)
3/11/2008 5:48 AM
Nice catch, BH. Glad you are tracking for us!
3/11/2008 9:58 PM
Technically, we've already had a "bubblehead" in space and SHE was lost to us when Columbia broke apart on reentry. Her name was Captain Laurel Blair Salton Clark, MC, USN - A submarine qualified medical officer and diver. True, she didn't have her own boat, but she was the Senior Medical Officer for Submarine Squadron 14, Holyloch, Scotland. She also performed many medical evacuations from submarines and dove with navy divers and SEAL teams.
So, technically, I think we are waiting on the first male submariner to go into space. Captain Clark has been an inspiration for me for quite a while and so far as I know, she never went dink in qualifications. Here's part of her story:
During medical school she did active duty training with the Diving Medicine Department at the Naval Experimental Diving Unit in March 1987. After completing medical school, Clark underwent postgraduate medical education in pediatrics from 1987 to 1988 at the National Naval Medical Center. The following year she completed Navy undersea medical officer training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Groton, Connecticut and diving medical officer training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida. Clark was designated a Radiation Health Officer and Undersea Medical Officer. She was then assigned as the Submarine Squadron Fourteen Medical Department Head in Holy Loch, Scotland. During that assignment she dove with Navy divers and Naval Special Warfare Unit Two SEALs and performed many medical evacuations from US submarines. After two years of operational experience she was designated as a Naval Submarine Medical Officer and Diving Medical Officer.
The rest can be found at Wikipedia by searching her name or "Columbia disaster".
3/17/2008 1:21 PM
Michael McCulley was the first submariner in space, 1989.
11/18/2009 9:06 AM
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20273439&BRD=1659&PAG=461&dept_id=8103&rfi=6, I post this as McCulley was my uncle.
11/18/2009 9:14 AM
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