Andrew Thomas - Definition

Andrew "Andy" S.W. Thomas (born December 18, 1951 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Astronaut working for NASA.

He received a bachelor of engineering degree in mechanical engineering, with First Class Honors, from the University of Adelaide in 1973, and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Adelaide in 1978.

In August 1993, following one year of training, he was appointed a member of the astronaut corp and was qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews.

In June 1995 Dr. Thomas was named as payload commander for STS-77 and flew his first flight in space on Space Shuttle Endeavour in May 1996. He next trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia in preparation for a long-duration flight. In 1998, he served as Board Engineer 2 aboard the Russian Space Station Mir for 130 days. Dr. Thomas completed his third space flight on STS-102 and has logged over 163 days in space.

Dr. Thomas currently serves as Deputy Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.

Australians in Space

• Philip K. Chapman
• Paul D. Scully-Power
• Andy Thomas