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Presenter:
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Capt. William Shepherd (USN, Ret.), Former NASA Astronaut
William Shepherd has served as a Navy SEAL, NASA Astronaut, Program Manager, and Senior Government Official with the Department of Defense (DOD). He started his career in 1971 as an Underwater Demolition “Frogman”, and Navy SEAL, with assignments to the Pacific, Atlantic, and European theaters of operation. In 1984, he was one of 17 Astronaut Candidates in NASA’s Astronaut Group 10. Captain Shepherd flew as a NASA Mission Specialist and Flight Engineer on 3 Space Shuttle flights. Capt. Shepherd and his crews carried DOD and scientific payloads to space, performed materials and life science experiments in microgravity, and launched the interplanetary probe “Ulysses” into the first polar orbit of the Sun. In 1993, Capt. Shepherd was selected to serve as Program Manager for the new International Space Station (ISS). He led a 16 nation partnership to design and build this new orbital “gateway” to space. In 1996 Capt. Shepherd was named by Vice President Gore and Russian Premier Chernomyrdin to command the “First Expedition” to the new space station. In 2000, Capt. Shepherd’s crew, with Russian Cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, launched from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket, flew into Earth orbit, and docked with the Space Station. From Oct 2000 to March 2001, The Expedition One crew brought the station to life, establishing the operational and research capabilities of the new outpost. Their 4 ½ month mission covered 58,000,000 miles—equal to two-thirds the distance between Earth and Mars. Now approaching its 18th year of continuous human operations, ISS is a robust 500 ton space “ship”--a home to hundreds of astronaut-explorers, on more than 50 expeditions, who have conducted thousands of hours of unique research activity. The ISS partnership, formed 25 years ago, remains a singular example of international cooperation, in a very large and complex program.
Capt. Shepherd left NASA in 2001 to serve as a technical advisor to the Navy’s SEAL headquarters in California, and later was the U.S. Special Operations Command’s first “Science Advisor” in Tampa Fla. Capt. Shepherd is currently a private consultant to government and industry, helping to advance national security capabilities and technologies.
Capt. Shepherd received a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, and Master’s and Engineer’s degrees in Mechanical and Ocean Engineering from MIT. Although he kept his status as a Navy Frogman throughout his NASA career, he received NASA’s Steve Thorne Aviation Award and was designated “Honorary Naval Aviator Number 30” by the Chief of Naval Operations. He has also received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the National Intelligence Medal, the Spirit of St. Louis Medal, the Gagarin Gold Medal, the Robert H. Goddard Trophy, and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. In 2009, NASA’s International Space Station team, which Capt. Shepherd led on the ground and in space, won the Collier Trophy, an award recognizing the Nation’s greatest achievements in aviation and astronautics.
Capt. Shepherd is married to the former Beth Stringham of Houston Texas. They reside in Virginia Beach Va.
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Abstract:
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This presentation introduces NASA's efforts to design, build, launch, and operate an integrated orbital space platform in collaboration with 15 other countries, including the Russian Federation.
Through video and a narrative description, this presentation describes the early construction, launch, and crew operations of the "first expedition" aboard the International Space Station.The "space station" now serves in part as a prototype for future large expeditionary vehicles, ones which will take humans to live and work far beyond Earth orbit.
The space station is a "shipboard" environment, distinct from an aircraft experience, and the presentation will touch on the many parallels with ship design, engineering, and operations, as well as themes of technology, history, design, cross cultural understanding, teamwork, risk, and performance.
The talk will conclude with the presenter’s vision for our future space explorations, and a discussion about the vehicles and program activities which will be required to make them happen.
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