Queens Astronaut Ready For Liftoff

Liftoff for the next Discovery space mission, the first since the ill-fated Columbia flight two years ago, is scheduled for May 15. For the second time in the history of the United States space program, an astronaut from Queens will be aboard.

If all systems are go on that day, or by June 3, when the launch window for this flight closes, and the space craft is propelled into space with its seven-member crew, including Astronaut Charles Camarda of Ozone Park, it could spark talk among some borough residents that Queens has become the cradle of astronauts.

Photo NASA Charles Camarda Such an outburst of pride would have to be excused since there are far more serious concerns we should have about space flights which have opened new worlds to us and led to scientific discoveries that can help all mankind.

But when and if Camarda and his fellow astronauts embark on their 12-day flight, he will join an elite club which includes Dr. Ellen Baker, one of the first women to have made a space flight and a veteran of three space flights. Dr. Baker, the daughter of former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman and Dr. Melvin Shulman of Bayside, is a graduate of Bayside H.S.

The third Queens astronaut is Fernando (Frank) Caldeiro. Caldeiro reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996, after completing two years of training and evaluation. He is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.

Caldeiro, 47, is a graduate of William Cullen Bryant H.S. in Long Island City. His parents reside in Flushing. Currently, Caldeiro is the lead astronaut in charge of shuttle software testing at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Camarda, 53, was born in Ozone Park where his parents, Jack and Ray, still reside. He graduated from Archbishop Molloy H.S. in Briarwood in 1970 and then attended Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he received a bachelor of science degree.

Camarda also holds a master of science degree in engineering science from George Washington University and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Now married to the former Melinda Miller, with whom he has four children, Camarda began working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1974 after completing his B.S. degree at Polytechnic Institute.

He became a research scientist in the Thermal Structures branch of the Structures and Materials Division and has concentrated his career in this area of study since then. He has headed the thermal structures branch since 1994.

Camarda has received more than 21 NASA awards for technical innovations and accomplishments. He also received a Research and Development 100 Award from Industrial Research Magazine as one of the top 100 technical innovations of 1983. He holds seven patents.

Camarda, who is also athletically inclined and engages in racquetball, running and weightlifting, was selected in 1996 and was assigned to the Johnson Space Center.

Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.

Camarda has always dreamed of space travel. When he finally makes his first flight aboard the Discovery, his job will be to test a camera and robotic arm that could make repairs anywhere on the ship if necessary.

However, the long-awaited flight has not been without controversy. Last Friday, the New York Times reported that the seven-member crew wanted assurances that all recommendations of the investigators who studied the 2002 Columbia tragedy had been satisfied.

The mission commander, Colonel Eileen M. Collins, said at a news conference that, although the crew had questioned the safety of the flight, “I think that we are o.k.”

Camarda said the Columbia, which burst into flame upon re-entry, had not changed his view of the risk of space flight.

In an earlier news story, he was quoted as saying: “It’s absolutely critical that we go flying. From a morale point of view, this will be a tremendous boost for the agency.”

Baker, who was 36 years old when she made her first flight, graduated from Bayside H.S. in 1970. She received a bachelor of arts degree in geology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo four years later.

Then followed four years at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she earned her medical degree. Afterward she earned her masters in public health from the University of Texas Health Science Center. After three years of additional training at the university, she was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 1981.

That same year, Baker was selected by NASA as a medical officer at the Johnson Space Center and graduated from the Air Force Aerospace Medicine Course at Brooks Air Force Base (AFB) in San Antonio. Prior to her selection as an astronaut candidate, she served as a physician in the Flight Medicine Clinic at the Johnson Space Center.

In 1984, Baker was selected as an astronaut candidate and one year later became an astronaut. Four years later, in October 1989, she was aboard the Atlantis when it was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After 119 hours and 41 minutes, the 79-orbit flight ended as the ship landed at Edwards AFB in California. During the flight, on which Baker was a mission specialist, the crew successfully deployed the Galileo exploratory craft to explore Jupiter, mapped atmospheric ozone and conducted several medical and numerous scientific experiments.

Baker’s second flight was aboard the Columbia in 1992. It was the first flight of the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory and the first Extended Duration Orbiter flight. Over a two-week period, the crew conducted scientific experiments involving crystal growth, fluid physics, fluid dynamics, biological science and combustion science. The mission covered 221 orbits, traveling 5.7 million miles in 331 hours, 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Three years later, in 1995, Baker took another memorable flight, one which started with a seven-member crew but returned with an eight-member crew. The historic flight was the first space shuttle mission to dock and exchange crews with the Russian Mir space station. To a achieve these breakthroughs, the Atlantis Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian space station. It also carried a Spacelab Module in the payload bay in which Baker and other crew members performed various life science experiments and data collection. The mission covered 153 orbits of the earth, travelling 4.1 million miles in 235 hours and 23 minutes.

During the three space flights, Baker logged more than 686 hours in space. Currently, the mother of two daughters with her husband Kenneth, she is the Lead Astronaut for Medical Issues and the astronaut representative to the Education Working Group at the Johnson Space Center.

For recreation, the space pioneer enjoys swimming, skiing, running, movies, music and reading.

The third Queens astronaut, Caldeiro made his first flight into space last May. He described his space travel with slides on a visit to his alma mater in 1999.

He recalled, in an article which appeared in the Gazette, that he couldn’t speak a word of English when his family arrived from Buenos Aires, Argentina to make their home here in the early 1970s. They enrolled him in Bryant H.S.

Despite the obstacles, Caldeiro graduated from Bryant and immediately showed where his future would lie by entering the Aerospace Technology program at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Farmingdale, Long Island. He earned an associate degree in applied science in 1978.

Six years later, he earned his bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona and subsequently earned his masters in engineering management from the University of Central Florida.

While still pursuing his college studies, Caldeiro worked as a test director during the production and flight test of the Rockwell–United States Air Force B-1B Bomber, which led him into the space program.

In 1988, he was transferred by Rockwell International to the Kennedy Space Center as a space shuttle main propulsion system specialist. In this capacity, he was the Rockwell International Design Center representative for the ground processing and launch of the Discovery Orbiter.

Caldeiro was then hired by NASA in 1991 as a cyrogenics and propulsion systems expert for the safety and mission assurance office. He was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1996. After two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.

In his first assignment as an astronaut, he served as lead astronaut for the European-built station modules and he is currently the lead astronaut in charge of shuttle software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.

Caldeiro is married to the former Donna Marie Emero of Huntington Beach, California. They have two daughters. During his R and R (rest and recreation) time Caldeiro enjoys building, flying and racing his own experimental Long Ez aircraft which he built over a period of seven years. He also enjoys snorkeling, amateur radio and metalworking. His parents reside in Flushing.