Sandra Magnus
Sandra Hall Magnus (born October 30, 1964) is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She is also a licensed amateur radio operator with the call sign KE5FYE. Magnus was born and raised in Belleville, Illinois. She earned degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the University of MissouriâRolla (now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology) before earning a PhD in materials science and engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996. Research for her dissertation, entitled \\\"An Investigation of the relationship between the thermochemistry and emission behavior of thermionic cathodes based on the BaO-Sc2O3-WO3 ternary system,\\\" was supported by a fellowship from the NASA Lewis Research Center. During the 1980s, Magnus worked on stealth aircraft design as an engineer for McDonnell Douglas. She worked on the propulsion system for the A-12 Avenger II until the project was canceled by the Navy in 1991. Magnus was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996. From September 16-22, 2006, Magnus served as the commander of NASA\\\'s NEEMO 11 mission, an undersea expedition at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\\\'s Aquarius laboratory located off the coast of Florida. With fellow astronaut/aquanauts Timothy Kopra, Robert Behnken and Timothy Creamer, all of whom were training for possible assignment to missions to the International Space Station, Magnus imitated moonwalks, tested concepts for mobility using various spacesuit configurations and weights to simulate lunar gravity. Techniques for communication, navigation, geological sample retrieval, construction and using remote-controlled robots on the moon\\\'s surface also were tested.
Spaceflights
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 STS-112 MSP 07.10.2002 - 18.10.2002 10d 19h 58m
2 STS-126 / ISS-18 / STS-119 Flight Engineer 15.11.2008 - 28.03.2009 133d 18h 18m
3 STS-135 MSP 08.07.2011 - 21.07.2011 12d 18h 28m
Total 157d 08h 44m
