Ensign Christopher Cassidy, BUD/S Class 192 to US Astronaut

Image above: Front row, Commander Mark Polansky (right) and Pilot Doug Hurley. Back row (left to right), astronauts Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Canadian Space Agency's Julie Payette, Tom Marshburn and Tim Kopra, all mission specialists. Kopra is scheduled to join Expedition 20 as flight engineer after launching to the International Space Station with the STS-127 crew. Image credit: NASA

Mark L. Polansky will command the shuttle Endeavour for STS-127. Douglas G. Hurley will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Christopher J. Cassidy, Thomas H. Marshburn, David A. Wolf and Julie Payette, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut.

The mission will deliver Timothy L. Kopra to the station as a flight engineer and science officer and return Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to Earth. Hurley, Cassidy, Marshburn and Kopra will be making their first trips to space.

Endeavour sets sail on its 23rd mission with the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section. The facility will provide a type of "front porch" for experiments in the exposed environment, and a robotic arm that will be attached to the Kibo Pressurized Module and used to position experiments outside the station. The mission will include five spacewalks.

STS-127 is the 29th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

PERSONAL DATA: Born January 4, 1970 in Salem, Massachusetts. Considers York, Maine, to be his hometown. Married. He and his wife are the proud parents of three children.

EDUCATION:
York High School, York, Maine.
Naval Academy Prep School, Newport, Rhode Island, 1989.
B.S., Mathematics, U.S. Naval Academy, 1993.
M.S., Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.

ORGANIZATIONS: USNA Alumni Association; M.I.T. Alumni Association; Fraternal Order of UDT/SEAL Association

SPECIAL HONORS: Honor graduate of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) Class 192. Awarded the Bronze Star with combat ‘V’ and Presidential Unit Citation for leading a 9-day operation at the Zharwar Kili cave complex – a national priority objective directly on the Afghan/Pakistan border. Quest speaker at the USNA Combat Leadership Seminar (2003 & 2004). Awarded a second Bronze Star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan in 2004.

EXPERIENCE: Ten years as a member of the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams. Specialized tactics include long range special reconnaissance (vehicular and foot patrols), direct action building assaults, non-compliant ship-boardings, desert reconnaissance patrols, combat diving, underwater explosives, and a variety of air operations, to include parachuting, fast roping, and rappelling. He made four six-month deployments: two to Afghanistan, and two to the Mediterranean. Cassidy served as Executive Officer and Operations Officer of Special Boat Team Twenty in Norfolk, Virginia, and SEAL Platoon Commander at SEAL Team THREE in Coronado, California. He deployed to the Afghanistan region two weeks after 9/11/01. He served as Ground Assault Force Commander for international and U.S. only combat missions in Afghanistan. Led two months of non-compliant ship-boardings in the Northern Arabian Gulf. Was SEAL Delivery Vehicle Platoon Commander at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO in Norfolk, VA. He accumulated over 200 hours underwater as Pilot / Navigator / Mission Commander of a 2-man flooded submersible (SDV), which is launched and recovered from a host-ship submarine. He also served as Dry Deck Shelter Platoon Commander at SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO in Norfolk, VA Cassidy volunteered for and completed a week-long, 180-mile charity kayak paddle from Norfolk, VA to Washington, D.C. to raise money and awareness for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in May 2004. In February 2006 he completed Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Completion of this initial training qualifies him for various technical assignments within the Astronaut Office and future flight assignment as a mission specialist. Cassidy is currently assigned to the crew of STS-127, ISS Assembly Mission 2J/A, that will deliver the Japanese-built Exposed Facility (JEM-EF) and the Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section (ELM-ES) to the International Space Station in July 2009.

Endeavour mission specialist Chris Cassidy works outside of the International Space Station to replace a set of old solar array batteries during the third spacewalk of STS-127 on July 22, 2009. Credit: NASA TV

July 24: In this photo provided by NASA, Astronauts Tom Marshburn, left, and Christopher Cassidy, mission specialists for STS-127, share duties on the fourth spacewalk of Endeavour's current mission and its crew's joint activities with the space station. Eleven astronauts and cosmonauts remained inside the international space station and the shuttle to which it was docked, while the two continued work on the orbital outpost. Credit: AP Photo/NASA

July 27: In this image from NASA TV astronaut Chris Cassidy is seen during a spacewalk on the international space station. Credit: AP Photo/NASA TV

When an unexpected glitch pops up in an astronaut's spacesuit during a spacewalk, NASA takes no chances. If it looks like a problem, it's time to call it quits.

Such was the case Wednesday, when flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston ordered two astronauts working outside the International Space Station to cut their spacewalk short after detecting rising levels of carbon dioxide in one of their spacesuits. The move was just a precaution - at no point was the astronaut in danger - but it provided a glimpse into how NASA treats spacesuit malfunctions in the middle of a spacewalk.

"A spacesuit is a very small spacecraft and there's just really not much margin for error," NASA's lead space station flight director Holly Ridings told reporters late Wednesday.

The glitch occurred inside astronaut Chris Cassidy's spacesuit while he and fellow spacewalker Dave Wolf were replacing old solar array batteries on the International Space Station. The canister used to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere inside Cassidy's suit apparently wasn't doing its job right, NASA officials said.

"There is a team meeting to discuss exactly what the signature was that caused the carbon dioxide to trend upward near the end of the spacewalk," said Keith Johnson, NASA's lead spacewalk officer for the space shuttle Endeavour's current mission to the station.

Spacewalk safety

NASA measures the amount of carbon dioxide in a spacecraft using millimeters of mercury. For example, the acceptable limit for space shuttle and the space station is about 5 millimeters of mercury, Johnson said. The typical range for a spacewalking astronaut is between 0.3 and 0.5 millimeters of mercury, he added.

At its worst, the carbon dioxide level in Cassidy peaked at about 3 millimeters of mercury, well below the accepted threshold for the shuttle and nowhere near the 8 millimeter mark that would have set off an alarm in his spacesuit warning of an impending problem, mission managers said.

It is only when levels reach 15 millimeters of mercury that astronauts would begin to feel the effects of carbon dioxide poisoning, known as hypercapnia, Johnson said.

"It's an uncomfortable situation. A crewmember would start feeling warm and a bit of air hunger," Johnson said. "In part of our training, we allow the crewmember to experience that elevated [carbon dioxide] to know just exactly that it is a condition that they're experiencing, and how to react to it."

If that ever occurred, spacewalking astronauts could refer to an emergency procedure in a checklist attached to their spacesuit gloves, Johnson said. It lists exactly what to do in order to return to the airlock in the event of spiking carbon dioxide levels, he added.

But NASA's nominal plan is to always return astronauts to the safety of the airlock before rising carbon dioxide levels can become a problem. That's why Mission Control ordered Cassidy and Wolf back inside the space station a half hour earlier than planned.

Cassidy later told his crewmates and a flight surgeon in Mission Control that he felt fine and never experienced any symptoms related to carbon dioxide poisoning, mission managers said.

The slightly elevated levels detected in Cassidy's spacesuit were on an upward trend, possibly because the lithium hydroxide canister used to scrub carbon dioxide from the suit's atmosphere dried out early in the spacewalk or stopped letting air flow through it properly, Johnson said.

A new canister will be loaded into Cassidy's spacesuit for his next spacewalk on Friday. Endeavour's seven-astronaut crew is in the middle of a 16-day mission to deliver a new crewmember, spare parts and a Japanese experiment porch to the space station.

Wednesday's spacewalk was the third of five planned for the mission. Endeavour launched toward the space station last week and is due to return to Earth July 31.

The problematic canister behind Wednesday's shortened spacewalk will be returned to Earth for analysis when Endeavour lands.

"The team is evaluating what happened and how it might affect the next couple of [spacewalks] that we're doing, and we'll just go from there," Johnson said.

SPACE.com is providing continuous coverage of STS-127 with reporter Clara Moskowitz and senior editor Tariq Malik in New York. Click here for mission updates and SPACE.com's live NASA TV video feed.

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Astronauts speed through 5th and final spacewalk

Jul 27, 12:43 PM (ET)

By MARCIA DUNN

(AP) In this image from NASA TV Astronaut Tom Marshburn is seen during a spacewalk on the international...
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Astronauts completed the last spacewalk of their shared shuttle and station mission Monday, breezing through some rewiring, camera setups and other outdoor chores.

Christopher Cassidy and Thomas Marshburn got so far ahead on the flight's fifth spacewalk that they even took on extra work, a welcome change from earlier excursions that were bogged down by balky equipment and other obstacles.

"Since you guys are cruising, we're running out of tasks," Mission Control called up as the spacewalk neared the four-hour mark. Twenty minutes later came the call: "We're out of tasks."

The spacewalk ended up lasting just four hours and 54 minutes, and set the stage for shuttle Endeavour's scheduled departure Tuesday.

Compared with the previous outings, this one included a hodgepodge of relatively mundane jobs.

The spacewalkers rearranged electrical hookups for a pair of gyroscopes, giving them separate power supplies, and folded down a piece of popped-up insulation on a small robot hand at the international space station. Then they hooked up two TV cameras on the brand new porch of a Japanese lab, installed by the two crews last week. The cameras will assist in experiment work on the porch and in the docking in two months of a Japanese cargo carrier.

"Congratulations, you guys just completed the ... assembly," Mission Control radioed once the second camera was secured. Japan's enormous $1 billion lab, named Kibo, or Hope, required three shuttle flights and took more than a year to finish.

"I can verify from up close it is, indeed, a beautiful laboratory," Marshburn said.

Shuttle commander Mark Polansky had cautioned his crewmates to keep their guard up, despite the simple tasks. "In my book, the last one you do is the one that you have to watch out for the most," he noted.

(AP) In this image from NASA TV astronaut Chris Cassidy is seen during a spacewalk on the international...
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Only a handful of other shuttle flights have had five spacewalks squeezed into them.

"Most shuttle crews are content with three or four," Mission Control said in a morning message. "Today, you'll be joining a very select group by doing your fifth! Thanks for going the extra mile ... or the extra 125,000 miles as the case may be."

With the spacewalk coming in under five hours, the total mileage ended up being closer to 90,000, given an orbital speed of 17,500 mph.

The five spacewalks together spanned a total of 30 hours.

Cassidy and Marshburn were so eager to get started on spacewalk No. 5 that they floated out an hour early as the linked spacecraft sped across the Atlantic, halfway between South America and Europe. Fifteen minutes later, they crossed over Italy; the toe and heel of the boot were clearly visible 220 miles beneath them.

(AP) In this photo provided by NASA, Astronauts Tom Marshburn, left, and Christopher Cassidy, mission...
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Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the space station Tuesday afternoon, then spend three more days in orbit before returning to Earth on Friday.

The joint 1 1/2-week mission created the largest space gathering ever, with 13 people. Seven of them will be coming back on the shuttle.

Cassidy took his time, as promised, during Monday's spacewalk in order to keep his carbon dioxide levels down. His first spacewalk, last Wednesday, had to be cut short because of elevated carbon dioxide levels in his suit. He made it all the way to the end of Friday's outing, despite a slight buildup.

"If you go even slower, we'll get further ahead," astronaut David Wolf reminded Cassidy from inside.

As usual, though, Cassidy's brisk metabolic rate went through the carbon-dioxide absorber in his suit more quickly than his partner's.

That prompted Mission Control to skip one chore, the opening of a platform for big spare station parts. It would have been too time-consuming and officials, playing it safe, decided to save the job for future spacewalkers. Everyone was still "busting proud," Wolf said.

Mission Control officials say Cassidy's background as a Navy SEAL makes it difficult for him to slow down.

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Instructor Schad comments: Mr. Cassidy, get over here, sir. Okay...drop. What are you doing up there, sir...? You're here for Sea, Air, Land. That "air" part doesn't include outer space. Recover, sir...and know we're all real proud of 192's Honorman.

	National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058
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