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December 12, 2010 - Veteran NASA astronaut Alan
Poindexter has left the agency to return to the Naval
Postgraduate School (NPS) in
The
"Dex
was a well-respected leader within our office," said
Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's
A
veteran of two spaceflights, Poindexter logged more than
669 hours in space. In 2008, he was the pilot on the
STS-122 space shuttle mission to deliver and install the
European Space Agency's |
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Poindexter
was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and served
in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch as the lead
support astronaut at NASA's
Poindexter
graduated from Poindexter was commissioned following graduation from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1986. After a short tour of duty at the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel Facility, Naval Surface Weapons Center, White Oak, Maryland, Poindexter reported for flight training in Pensacola, Florida. |
He was designated
a Naval Aviator in 1988 and reported to Fighter Squadron 124, Naval Air
Station Miramar, California, for transition to the F-14 Tomcat.
Following his initial training, Poindexter was assigned to Fighter
Squadron 211, also at
Selected by NASA
in June 1998, he reported for training in August 1998. Initially
Poindexter served in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch
performing duties as the lead support astronaut at It took three spacewalks by crew members to prepare the Columbus Laboratory for its scientific work, and to replace an expended nitrogen tank on the Station?s P-1 Truss. STS-122 was also a crew replacement mission, delivering Expedition-16 Flight Engineer, ESA Astronaut L?opold Eyharts, and returning home with Expedition-16 Flight Engineer, NASA Astronaut Daniel Tani. The STS-122 mission was accomplished in 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds, and traveled 5,296,832 statute miles in 203 Earth orbits. |
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