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AFIT graduate to pilot space shuttle on August 25

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 12:46 AM Friday, August 14, 2009

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Kevin Ford, who earned a post-graduate degree in 1997 from the Air Force Institute of Technology, is scheduled to fly the space shuttle on an Aug. 25 mission to carry equipment to the International Space Station.

He is the latest AFIT graduate to become an astronaut, in a tradition that began with Gordon Cooper and Virgil Grissom in the institute’s class of 1956. Ford received a doctorate in astronautical engineering from AFIT.

AFIT officials count 13 graduates who became astronauts. The institute, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, offers graduate instruction to members of the Air Force and sister services.

Ford, 49, is to be the pilot of shuttle Discovery on a 13-day mission that is to include three spacewalks. The retired Air Force colonel from Montpelier, Ind., will be making his first space flight. He told friends in an e-mail on Wednesday, Aug. 12, that NASA is still scrutinizing the loss of external foam protection from a tank of shuttle Endeavour during last month’s launch of the most recent orbiter flight.

“They will not launch us until they are convinced it is safe,” Ford wrote. “The loss of foam during ascent would not put us at risk while we’re climbing and accelerating into orbit, but could cause unacceptable damage to the thermal protection system that protects us during entry.

“In that case, we might have a longer stay on station than we’d like while we awaited another shuttle to bring us back to Earth,” he wrote.

Ford and mission commander Rick Sturckow, 48, a Marine colonel from Lakeside, Calif., are to lead the eight-member crew on the 13-day mission aboard shuttle Discovery. Sturckow has been on three space flights.

The takeoff time is currently set for 1:36 a.m. on Aug. 25. NASA officials meet on Aug. 18 to examine Discovery’s readiness and officially affirm the takeoff date and time.

The shuttle’s cargo for the space station includes science and storage racks, a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and a treadmill.

The mission’s spacewalkers are to replace experiments outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory, install a new ammonia tank and bring back the used one, NASA said. Ammonia is used to move excess heat from the space station’s interior to radiators located outside.

Discovery also is to deliver a new crew member to the space station and bring back one of the crew already there.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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