Astronaut Biography: Stanley G. Love

Astronaut Biography: Stanley G. Love
NASA astronaut Stanley Love poses for a prelaunch portrait while wearing a space shuttle launch and entry suit. (Image credit: NASA.)

NAME:Stanley G. Love (Ph.D.)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONALDATA: BornJune 8, 1965 in San Diego, California, but considers Eugene, Oregon to be hishometown. Married. Two children. Recreational interests include flying, alpinehiking, bicycling, music, and animation. His parents, Glen A. and Rhoda M.Love, reside in Oregon.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Winston ChurchillHigh School, Eugene, Oregon, in 1983; received a Bachelor of Science degree inphysics from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California, in 1987; receivedMaster of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in astronomy from theUniversity of Washington in 1989 and 1993, respectively.

ORGANIZATIONS: American Astronomical Society;American Geophysical Union; American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics;Harvey Mudd College Alumni Association; Meteoritical Society.

AWARDS: NASA-JSC Performance Award (2003,2004, 2006). NASA Space Flight Awareness Team Award (2004). NOVA Award, JetPropulsion Laboratory (1998). O.K. Earl Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship,California Institute of Technology (1995). Dean?s List Distinction, Harvey MuddCollege (1985, 1986, 1987).

EXPERIENCE: Worked summers at the University ofOregon in Eugene, as a computer programming instructor (1984) and as anassistant in physics and chemistry laboratories (1985-1987). As a graduateteaching assistant at the University of Washington in Seattle beginning in1987, he taught and led laboratory sections for undergraduate courses ingeneral and planetary astronomy.

He worked asa graduate research assistant at the University of Washington from 1989 to 1993on a variety of projects including space propulsion and energy storage, stellarphotometry and spectroscopy, analysis of space-exposed surfaces, hypervelocityimpact and particle capture, atmospheric entry heating of micrometeoroids,infrared imaging of the zodiacal light, and electron microscopy ofinterplanetary dust particles. Moved to the University of Hawaii in Honolulu in1994 for a postdoctoral research appointment modeling the formation ofmeteoritic chondrules and the collisional evolution of asteroids, andinvestigating the possibility of meteorites from the planet Mercury.

Awarded aprize postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology in1995: work there included computational fluid dynamic simulations of asteroidcollisions, calibration of the Cassini spacecraft dust particle impactdetector, and experimental shock compression of the mineral calcite.Transferred to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a staff engineer in 1997 towork on computer models of spacecraft optical instrument systems and toparticipate in a Laboratory-wide process re-engineering effort.

NASAEXPERIENCE:Selected by NASA in June 1998, he reported for training in August 1998.Astronaut Candidate Training included orientation briefings and tours, numerousscientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle andInternational Space Station systems, physiological training and ground schoolto prepare for T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival schools.

Dr. Loveserved as a CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) in Mission Control for International Space Station Expeditions 1through 7 and for Space Shuttle missions STS-104 (ISS-7A), STS-108 (ISS-UF-1),and STS-112 (ISS-9A). He served in the Astronaut Office's Exploration Branch,helping to develop future space vehicles and missions. Dr. Love is assignedto the STS-122 mission that will deliver the European Space Agency?s Columbus Laboratory to the InternationalSpace Station.

LastUpdated: February 2007

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