Wywiad przed ostatnim lotem astronautyAstronaut Steve Lindsey
By John Johnson Jr Sept. 26, 2009 12 AM PT
Veteran astronaut Steve Lindsey was recently chosen to command the final flight to the International Space Station before the space shuttle fleet is retired in late 2010. In a telephone interview from Johnson Space Center in Houston, he reflected on his career.
How does it feel to be selected to command the last flight?
I feel pretty privileged and honored. I last flew on the shuttle in July 2006, which was the second return to flight mission after the loss of Columbia [which broke up in 2003 while attempting to land at Cape Canaveral in Florida]. When they asked if I wanted to do the last flight, I thought about it for a while. I said three years ago that I was done flying. But I finally decided to do it. This will be my fifth flight.
Looking back on your career as an astronaut, what things stand out?
Oh, so many things. On my first two flights, I was the pilot. I remember being struck by the wonder of working in zero gravity. But you get used to that after a while. On later flights, I was the commander. When you’re the commander, you get to land the shuttle. It’s a difficult spacecraft to fly.
But there’s one thing you never get tired of. That’s looking down at the Earth. It is so beautiful.
What is it like to command the shuttle?
Your perspective is different. Somebody once said it must be wonderful to land the shuttle. I realized as commander you don’t think like that. The rewards aren’t personal. I loved watching my shuttle crew come together with the crew on the International Space Station when we flew there. It was a different experience.
What is the goal for the last flight?
Our objective is to leave the space station in the best possible condition that we can. We’re going to carry up spare parts and supplies. We’re going to deliver a logistics module and install shielding to protect the station from micro-meteorite damage. It will be an eight-day mission.
So you’re not doing any major construction work? Will the space station be mostly done by the time you arrive?
We are practically done now. The Russians have a couple of modules left to bring up. The Node 3 living quarters is still to be installed. But we’re pretty much done building it.
You are also chief of the astronaut office. How do you keep the astronaut corps interested after the shuttle fleet is retired? It’s going to be several years before the replacement Ares spacecraft is ready to fly.
We are going to be flying in the interim. Every Russian Soyuz flight will have a U.S. astronaut aboard. We will be shifting to long-duration missions on the space station. Transportation will be provided on Soyuz spacecraft. The number of astronauts will be decreasing, however.
By how much?
Right now we have about 80 astronauts. In the out years it will be more like 60 or so.
How do you feel about the future of NASA? You know the Obama administration is rethinking the plan to return to the moon. Can I assume you would be in favor of going back there and eventually going on to Mars?
Everybody at NASA feels the same way. We’re in favor of taking the next step and getting out of low Earth orbit. We think the next step needs to be exploring the solar system, whether it’s visiting an asteroid or going to Mars. But we need to go back to the moon for practice. It will allow us to learn how to build habitats and use rovers. The moon is a good steppingstone.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-sep-26-sci-shuttleqanda26-story.htmlKrótkie podsumowanie dokonań astronautycznychAstronaut, USAF Fighter & Experimental Test Pilot, Engineer, Program Manager, Speakerhttps://uniphigood.com/portfolio_page/astronaut-steve-lindsey/https://www.sncorp.com/news-archive/meet-sncs-former-nasa-astronauts/https://nps.edu/-/episode-14Steven Lindsey został starszym wiceprezesem ds. obszaru biznesowego Systemów Kosmicznych w SNC.https://aiaa.org/people/steve-lindsey/Po dołączeniu do Sierra Space, Steve kierował operacjami lotniczymi Dream Chaser. W sierpniu 2013 r. został wybrany na starszego dyrektora Dream Chaser i współmenedżera programu, którego zadaniem było zarządzanie rozwojem systemów Dream Chaser. Steve kierował programem Dream Chaser przez fazę certyfikacji projektu, w tym atmosferyczne testy w locie Engineering Test Article w Centrum Badawczym Lotów Armstrong NASA w Kalifornii; oraz start, operacje orbitalne, wejście na orbitę i lądowanie systemów ładunkowych i załogowych Dream Chaser na potrzeby misji na niskiej orbicie okołoziemskiej do ISS.https://www.global-nikkei.com/nvgf-space/22/en/contents/speakers/SteveLindsey.htmlWhere are they now? Space shuttle commanders move onBY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: December 12, 2011
Shuttle commander Steve Lindsey works aboard Discovery's flight deck earlier this year. Credit: NASA Lindsey, born in a suburb of Los Angeles, is a 51-year-old retired Air Force colonel with over 6,500 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft. He flew on five space shuttle missions and also served as NASA's chief astronaut before being selected to command the final Discovery voyage. (...)
https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/12commanders/Sierra Nevada Congratulates Steven Lindsey, US Astronaut Hall of Fame 2015 Inducteeby SpaceRef June 1, 2015
(...) Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) congratulates Steven W. Lindsey, senior director of Space Exploration Systems at SNC’s Space Systems, on his induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Lindsey, co-program manager for SNC’s Dream Chaser® program, was inducted on Saturday, May 30, 2015 during a ceremony held at Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex. (...)
https://spacenews.com/sierra-nevada-congratulates-steven-lindsey-us-astronaut-hall-of-fame-2015-inductee/Dream Chaser space plane looks beyond International Space Station
By Jacqueline Klimas 06/15/2018 06:39 AM EDT
Former astronaut Steve Lindsey‘s company, Sierra Nevada Corporation, has big plans in space. | Roberto Gonzalez/Getty Images
The main mission of Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser space plane will be to supply up to seven astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2020 under a contract with NASA.
But the company has bigger plans for its spacecraft designed to launch atop a rocket and land on any runway that can accommodate a Boeing 737 jetliner, says Steve Lindsey, the company’s vice president of space exploration systems — regardless of what happens to the space station.
“We think the Dream Chaser spacecraft is the perfect vehicle whether it’s to the ISS in 2025 or something that replaces it,” says Lindsey, who logged more than 1,500 hours in space as a NASA astronaut. “We can use our vehicle to do standalone science in 2025 and beyond. We’re well placed that no matter what the future looks like in low earth orbit. We’re going to be a big part of it.”
As NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine speaks with companies about privatizing the station, Lindsey said he expects the Dream Chaser to “be a big part of resupply and science in the future, even if it becomes commercialized.”
He also spoke about international interest in the Dream Chaser and support for the program on Capitol Hill.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
What does it mean for the Dream Chaser if the government stops using the station sooner than planned?
It’s true that main work we’re doing right now is for the ISS program...The Dream Chaser provides supplies up and down to the space station. However, from the outset, we’ve always designed the Dream Chaser [as] a space utility vehicle. It can do lots of different things.
We can do more than just go to the station and return. Specifically, our Dream Chaser cargo system can also do free-flight operations….We can do free flight science missions, we can do other mission in low earth orbit that don’t involve the space station.
In fact, we’re working with the United Nations right now on a potential mission to fly payloads of multiple countries on a mission that doesn’t go anywhere near ISS.
NASA is talking with companies about privatizing the ISS. How does Dream Chaser fit into that?
NASA wants to turn its attention to exploration in 2025 and start building the [Lunar Orbiting Platform] gateway as early as 2022...Even if they’re focusing on the gateway and doing lunar missions and exploration of other planets, we are still going to need a capability to do research in low earth orbit.
It’s not just NASA. There’s also [the European Space Agency, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Canadian Space Agency.] There’s always going to be a need to do research in low earth orbit along with science in lunar orbit for the gateway...NASA wants to be able to do both, but right now because of space station costs, they’re spending a good portion of their budget on that. They need to shift their budget from low earth orbit to lunar orbit and would like to commercialize low earth orbit.
We wouldn’t be in this business if we didn’t want to commercialize low earth orbit. That’s our number one goal...We think the Dream Chaser spacecraft is the perfect vehicle whether it’s to the ISS in 2025 or something that replaces it. We can use our vehicle to do standalone science in 2025 and beyond.
Any of those options are good for us. We’re well placed that no matter what the future looks like in low earth orbit, we’re going to be a big part of it.
Do you expect industry to use your platform to resupply the station even if it is commercially operated?
We’re designed to go to the space station and will have gone many times by the time this happens...regardless we’ll be a big part of resupply and science in the future, even if it becomes commercialized.
Have you already talked with international space agencies about potentially using the Dream Chaser?
Oh yes, we actually have agreements with JAXA, ESA, CSA. We’ve talked to many other countries...It’s not just a wish list, they are actively involved.
The Dream Chaser space plane will be able to supply up to seven astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2020 under a contract with NASA. | Chritof Stache/AFP/Getty Images
You talked about being able to do science in low earth orbit. Would that require a crewed mission?
You could certainly do either one...We’re doing an uncrewed mission for the United Nations.
If you really look at the International Space Station, it’s international, but it’s a small subset of nations...there are a lot of other nations that have never been to space. We’ve been talking about, for example, taking some nations that have been to space, partnering them with countries who have never had the opportunity, allowing them to develop their own science experiment, get sponsored and then fly on board our vehicle. That’s an uncrewed mission, but you could also do crewed.
What is the status of this planned mission involving the United Nations?
We put out a call for interest at the end of last year and got a tremendous response -- 150 responses from 65 different countries. We’ve developed a payload user guide working with UN. We’re going through legal things right now, liabilities. The next step will be to put out here’s what we’re targeting, tell us what your specific ideas are.
What message do you bring when you go to Capitol Hill?
We enjoy pretty broad bipartisan support bipartisan. The space program in general does, especially NASA programs, they always have. Pretty much everybody we talk to in Congress or staffers when we show them the design, they get pretty excited about it...I’ve yet to run into anybody who doesn’t support more commercialization of space, which is exactly what we’re trying to do.
Will Sierra Nevada Corporation work on a crewed version of the Dream Chaser, even if that’s not what NASA initially wants?
We’ve actually never stopped working on crewed version….The current one we’re working on is an uncrewed cargo platform….but we still have an active open contract with NASA for the crewed version.
The flight test we did in November satisfied objectives for cargo resupply and a [crewed version.]...There’s 85 percent in common with the crewed version, the size, shape, outer mold line, that’s all exactly the same...What we’re doing is maintaining traceability between cargo version and crewed version and staying plugged in with NASA on their crew program so we’re making sure we understand what we would need to do to go back to crewed for NASA.
There are other people we’re engaged with who really want a crewed version as well. I think as soon as we start flying the cargo version, everyone will want a crewed version. We’ll be ready to do that
What benefit does a crewed version offer?
You put humans on board, you can do a lot more with science and different things. The attractiveness of a lifting body spacecraft like we have, your re-entry environment is a lot less harsh than a capsule. A capsule comes down at four or five Gs...some of them land on land, most of them land on water, and takes you days to get your critical science back, but it starts degrading as soon as you get into the gravity field.
We offer ability to enter gently...and because we have no toxic propellants, as soon as we land, you can go right up to vehicle and start pulling cargo.
We can land at any runway where a 737 can land, which opens up whole world to us...In a nation where you don’t have a space program, it would cost billions of dollars to build a space program, but we can offer a turnkey space program and landing in the country for the cost of a satellite launch.
Countries want their own astronauts to fly in space, it’s a big deal for them and a big deal for us.
How does your background as an astronaut impact your perspective working on the program?
I view it differently than most of the people working on the program. On our program we have a very diverse team, we brought in a lot of people from NASA, industry, even non-aerospace...which makes us strong because everybody comes at this from a different perspective.
From my perspective… I understand operations pretty intimately. How to do a space mission, how to live and work in space. Since I had the opportunity to go to the space station three times doing assembly, I also have a working knowledge of the space station.
For me, being an astronaut, in particular on [Commercial Resupply Contract 2], we’re carrying cargo and science payloads. Just understanding how do you get berthed at the space station, how do the robotics work, how do you load and unload the vehicle, what’s the best way to do that in zero gravity. What I can bring to the table -- everybody else working on it has never actually lived and worked in micro-gravity. There are things that seem hard to do on the ground are actually really easy to do in space and in some cases, vice versa...I can apply that kind of experience to the design so we don’t focus on the wrong things.
What was your role in assembling the space station?
I flew five Space Shuttle missions, the last three all went to space station. The first was very early assembly where my crew and I installed the airlock and did the first space walk out of that air walk. My next flight was after the Columbia accident, they added two return to flight test missions. I commanded the second. We went up to station...[and] brought a third crew member back up as well as a whole bunch of logistics supplies. We did several space walks from the space station and tested all the thermal protection system repair that we needed for shuttle. On my last flight, I commanded the final flight of Discovery. We went to station...and completed assembly.
Given your background, what are your thoughts on commercializing the space station?
We’ve always been interested in exploration, so that’s really important to me. It’s also important to me that we spent a lot of time and money on the station and we want to get as much utilization out of it as possible. I think they’re doing that. They set specific life science goals to be done by 2025 to get all information we need to fly astronauts interplanetary safely.
One of the greatest legacies will be the international partnership aspect of it...Before I was at NASA, I was a fighter pilot in the Air Force...Back in the day our sworn enemies were the Soviet Union. If you’d told me 10 years from then you’d be flying in space with Russians, I’d have told you you was crazy. All of that has been a great thing for the world. It’s hard to fight other countries when you’re cooperating with them in space
I also recognize that we have a certain amount of resources...We can’t afford to continue to operate ISS in the future if we want to explore at the same time. If you go back to last decade, Constellation [a crewed spaceflight program to return to the moon] was canceled by the Obama administration because we couldn’t afford the International Space Station and that at the same time. Something had to go. ISS was just being built, so Constellation got delayed...They’re going to run into the same problem if you don’t do something.
We still need to do science and things in low earth orbit. You’re not going to want to send a crew out to the lunar environment for something that could be done in LEO, so you need both. But the question is how do you do both affordably? The way you do both affordably is by commercializing low earth orbit so NASA and others can balance resources.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/dream-chaser-space-plane-international-space-station-647113Astronaut Steven Lindsey's post-NASA careerhttp://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum38/HTML/001370.htmlAssociation of Space Explorers @ASE_Astronauts 11:00 PM · Aug 24, 2024
#HappyBirthday to ASE member Steve Lindsey, who flew to space five times between 1997 and 2011 (STS-87, STS-95, STS-104, STS-121, and STS-133), including as part of trips to the @Space_Station!
https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/18274509431195035942023
https://x.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1694847138423865641Association of Space Explorers @ASE_Astronauts 3:00 AM · Aug 25, 2025
#ASEspotlight: Steve Lindsey 💫
In March 2011, ASE member Lindsey signed the STS-133 patch that was added to the collection of insignias aboard the @Space_Station.
Fun fact: He enjoys dirt biking!
Happy 65th birthday, Steve! 🎉
https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1959782864846729267
Wątek: SW Lindsey - 24.08.1960 (Przeczytany 107 razy)