Steven Swanson

Infobox Astronaut
name =Steven Ray Swanson

---

type =NASA Astronaut
status =Active
nationality =American
date_birth =December 3, 1960
place_birth =Syracuse, New York
occupation =Engineer
rank =
selection =1998 NASA Group
time =13d 20h 13m
mission = STS-117
insignia = |

Steven Ray Swanson (born December 3, 1960 in Syracuse, New York) is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut.

Early years

Although born in Syracuse, New York, Swanson considers Steamboat Springs, Colorado to be his home. He graduated from Steamboat Springs High School in 1979, and went on to the University of Colorado to receive a bachelor's degree in engineering physics in 1983. In 1986, he received a master's degree in applied science in computer systems from Florida Atlantic University. [cite web| title = Florida Atlantic University Stories of U.
publisher = FAU | url = http://www.fau.edu/explore/homepage-stories/2007-06swanson.php] He later received a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University in 1998.

NASA career

His first mission was STS-117, which launched June 2007. He was a mission specialist on this flight, also serving as flight engineer. He is now selected to fly on mission STS-119 in late 2008.Cite web| url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/oct/HQ_07229_STS-119-Crew.html|title=NASA Assigns Crew for Final Solar Array Delivery to Station|accessyear=2007|accessmonthday=October 19| publisher=NASA| year=2007| author=NASA]

Firefly and Serenity

Steven Swanson is a Browncoat, or fan of Joss Whedon's "Serenity" and "Firefly". He added copies of the movie and box set of the TV series to the ISS Movie Library on STS-117 in June 2007. [cite web
title = Breaking Atmo: Serenity to ISS on STS-117
publisher = Breaking Atmo
url = http://www.breakingatmo.com/status/]

External links

* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/swanson.html NASA biography]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/swanson_steven.htm Spacefacts biography of Steven Swanson]

References