Andrew R. Morgan

Drew Morgan
Born
Andrew Richard Morgan

(1976-02-05) February 5, 1976 (age 48)
Morgantown, West Virginia, U.S.
EducationUnited States Military Academy (BS)
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (MD)
Space career
NASA astronaut
RankColonel, USA
Time in space
271d 12h 48m
SelectionNASA Group 21 (2013)
Total EVAs
7[1]
Total EVA time
45h48m[1]
MissionsSoyuz MS-13/Soyuz MS-15 (Expedition 60/61/62)
Mission insignia

Andrew Richard "Drew" Morgan (born February 5, 1976) is a NASA astronaut from the class of 2013.[2][3]

Personal life

Andrew is married to Stacey Morgan; they have four children.

Early life and education

Morgan was born in Morgantown, West Virginia on February 5, 1976, to Richard and Janice Morgan. He attended Dover High School in Delaware, graduating in 1994 before completing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Engineering at the West Point US Military Academy in 1998. Morgan was then commissioned into the US Army. During his time at West Point, he was part of the West Point Parachute Team, known as the "Black Knights". He later attended medical school at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where he earned his MD. In 2005 he completed his residency in emergency medicine at the Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma, Washington. In 2013 he completed a fellowship in primary care sports medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.[4]

US Army career

Following Morgan's graduation from West Point in 1998, he commissioned into the US Army as a medical officer. He completed his medical training and then volunteered for the US Army Special Operations Command. He was assigned as a physician at Fort Bragg and worked as a medical team member in the Special Operations Command as well as being part of the US Army Parachute Team as a physician. As part of the special operations command, he deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Africa before being given a strategic special operations assignment in Washington, D.C. He was preparing to move to an Army base in Germany for a tour of duty before his selection by NASA in 2013.[5]

Astronaut career

Morgan was selected by NASA in June 2013 as one of the eight members of NASA Astronaut Group 21 (Nicknamed "The Eight Balls") and began two years of astronaut basic training, this included training in Russian language, robotics, scientific and technical fields, ISS operations, T-38 flight operations, survival and spacewalk operations. Morgan, along with his seven classmates graduated from astronaut training and became eligible for future flight assignments on July 7, 2015.[6]

In between completion of his training and assignment to his first flight, Morgan served in NASA EVA/Robotics and Crew Operations branches.

Since his return from his first mission, Morgan served as the Mission Support Branch Chief of the NASA Astronaut Office and Increment Lead for Expedition 67.

Expedition 60/61/62

Morgan was initially assigned to fly a six-month mission to the ISS as flight engineer on Soyuz MS-13 and Expedition 60 and 61. Although, in April 2019, due to several factors including the aborted launch of Soyuz MS-10 in October 2018, Morgan and fellow astronaut Christina Koch's flight's were extended, Morgan's landing was moved from Soyuz MS-13 to Soyuz MS-15, extending his flight to Expedition 62.[7]

Morgan launched into space on board Soyuz MS-13 on July 20, 2019, joining the ISS Expedition 60, 61 and 62 crew as a flight engineer, alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov and Italian ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano.[8] Just six hours later the trio rendezvoused with the ISS, joining the Expedition 60 crew alongside Russian commander Aleksey Ovchinin and American flight engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch.

Morgan takes photographs of the Earth from the WORF

On August 21, 2019, Morgan conducted his first Spacewalk alongside Hague. The two spent six hours and 32 minutes outside of the ISS installing the International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) docking adapter onto the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) docking part, attached to the ISS's Harmony module, the installation of this adapter converted PMA-3 from the older APAS-95 docking system, used by the Space Shuttle, to the newer International Docking System Standard, which will allow the port to be used by the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft being developed to ferry crew to the ISS under the Commercial Crew Program.[9]

Over the course of Expedition 61, Morgan participated in six more spacewalks, two alongside Christina Koch, replacing batteries on the station's port truss segments,[10] and four alongside Luca Parmitano, repairing the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle physics experiment, located on the outside of the ISS, both of them were assisted by NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir who operated the Canadarm2 robotic arm from inside the Station. The spacewalks were described as the "most challenging since Hubble repairs".[11]

Andrew Morgan during the repair of AMS

In November 2019, he cast a ballot from outer space in that year's Pennsylvania elections.[12] During Expedition 62, Morgan was present on the ISS for the arrival and departure of SpaceX CRS-20, the final flight of SpaceX's Cargo Dragon robotic resupply spacecraft before its replacement by Cargo Dragon 2.[13]

CRS-20 approaching the ISS

On April 9, during the final days of Expedition 62, the crew were joined by the three crew members of Soyuz MS-16, Russian cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner as well as NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy.[14] Following the arrival of Soyuz MS-16, Expedition 62 spent eight days as a six-person increment, during this period, Morgan participated in a segment of Some Good News, an internet show hosted by American actor John Krasinski to spread good news during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.[15] On April 17, 2020, Morgan, alongside NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka returned to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-15, ending a 272-day spaceflight for Morgan, the fourth-longest single spaceflight for an American astronaut.[16] On January 6, 2022, Mark T. Vande Hei and Pyotr Dubrov completed 273 days on ISS, surpassing Morgan's record of 272 days on-board.[17]

  • Major Morgan, 2013
    Major Morgan, 2013
  • Morgan and ESA commander Luca Parmitano checking U.S. spacesuits and spacewalking tools
    Morgan and ESA commander Luca Parmitano checking U.S. spacesuits and spacewalking tools

References

  1. ^ a b "Astronauts and Cosmonauts with EVA Experience (sorted by "EVA Time")". www.spacefacts.de.
  2. ^ National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "2013 Astronaut Class". NASA. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2013.
  3. ^ Whiting, Melanie (February 21, 2016). "Andrew R. Morgan (M.D.) (Col., U.S. Army) NASA Astronaut". NASA. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  4. ^ Whiting, Melanie (February 21, 2016). "Andrew R. Morgan (M.D.) (Col., U.S. Army) NASA Astronaut". NASA.
  5. ^ Britzky, Haley. "How one Special Forces family is preparing for their next deployment... to space". Task & Purpose.
  6. ^ Northon, Karen (July 9, 2015). "NASA's Newest Astronauts Complete Training". NASA.
  7. ^ Northon, Karen (April 16, 2019). "NASA Announces First Flight, Record-Setting Mission". NASA.
  8. ^ Gebhardt, Chris (July 20, 2019). "Soyuz-FG on penultimate flight delivers three new crewmembers for ISS – NASASpaceFlight.com". NASASpaceflight.com.
  9. ^ "Spacewalkers Complete Installation of Second Commercial Docking Port – Space Station". blogs.nasa.gov.
  10. ^ "NASA Astronauts Kick Off First of Five Spacewalks for Power Upgrades – Space Station". blogs.nasa.gov.
  11. ^ "NASA/ESA complete challenging Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer repair". January 25, 2020.
  12. ^ Casiano, Louis (November 5, 2019). "NASA astronaut casts Pennsylvania absentee ballot from space". Foxnews. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  13. ^ "Final Dragon 1 completes return to Earth to conclude CRS-20". April 7, 2020.
  14. ^ "Russia conducts first Soyuz 2.1a human launch; MS-16 crew arrives at Station". April 8, 2020.
  15. ^ "Some Good News from Space!" – via www.facebook.com.
  16. ^ "Touchdown! Expedition 62 Returns to Earth, Completes Station Mission – Space Station". blogs.nasa.gov.
  17. ^ NASA (January 6, 2022). "Biology and Agriculture Research on Space Station As Astronaut Begins Record-Breaking Spree". SciTechDaily. Retrieved January 7, 2022.