“We have to understand how to live out there, and what's required, and what you can get away with, and what you can leave behind and what you can't leave behind, and what makes the humans continue to work together as a team because if they don't work together as a team, then you're not going to get your job done. And you can't just project the answer to that question; you have to go out there and live it to get the answer.”

Susan Helms, the first woman to live on International Space Station ‘Alpha’, as a member of the second crew to inhabit the Station, arrived home on earth recently after spending some 5.5 months in orbit. The Expedition-2 crew, composed of two American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut, launched on March 8, 2001 onboard STS-102 Discovery and successfully docked with the station on March 9, 2001. Helms was the first woman to live on the ISS, but the second American woman to live on a space station. The first, Shannon Lucid, spent six months on Russia's Mir in 1996.

Susan was born February 26, 1958, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Later, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, and she graduated from Portland’s Parkrose Senior High School in 1976. Her father was career Air Force, and Susan decided early in her life that being in the military, and particularly the Air Force, was something she wanted to do. She wanted to travel and see different places while having a stable and challenging career. Unable to become a pilot like her father due to her poor eyesight, she became an engineer.

In interviews, she has also credited some of her junior high school math and science teachers, a guidance counselor, and supportive friends for helping her in her career. “We felt pretty invincible back then. We felt like there was nothing we couldn't do. So, I just grew up with that attitude.”

After High School, Susan attended the U.S. Air Force Academy, receiving a B.S. degree in aeronautical engineering in 1980. After receiving her commission, she moved to Eglin AFB, Florida, where she served as an F-16 weapons separation engineer with the Air Force Armament Laboratory. In 1984 Susan was selected to obtain graduate school, and she obtained a M.S. degree in aeronautics/astronautics from Stanford University in 1985.

After receiving her M.S., Helms was assigned as an assistant professor of aeronautics at the USAF Academy. In 1987, she attended the AF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California. After completing one year of training as a flight test engineer, Helms was assigned as a USAF Exchange Officer to the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment, Canadian Forces Base, Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada, where she worked as a flight test engineer and project officer on the CF-18 aircraft. As a flight test engineer, Helms has flown in 30 different types of U.S. and Canadian military aircraft. She was managing the development of a CF-18 Flight Control System Simulation for the Canadian Forces when selected for the astronaut program.

Selected by NASA in January 1990, Helms became an astronaut in July 1991. A veteran of four space flights prior to her stint on the ISS, Helms flew on STS-54 in 1993, STS-64 in 1994, STS-78 in 1996, and STS-101.

During her tenure on Alpha, the space station's second resident crew helped install a robot arm and an air lock, and got the laboratory going. Their work was hampered by repeated computer problems and start-up trouble with the robot arm.

According to her NASA profile, Susan enjoys piano and other musical activities, jogging, traveling, reading, computers, and cooking. She plays keyboard for MAX-Q, a rock-n-roll band. Her parents, Lt. Col. (Ret., USAF) Pat and Dori Helms, reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Additional Info: Courtesy of NASA

ORGANIZATIONS: Women Military Aviators; U.S. Air Force Academy Association of Graduates; Stanford Alumni Association; Association of Space Explorers, Sea/Space Symposium, Chi Omega Alumni.

SPECIAL HONORS: Recipient of the Distinguished Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, NASA Space Flight Medals, and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal. Named a Distinguished Graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School, and recipient of the R.L. Jones Award for Outstanding Flight Test Engineer, Class 88A. In 1990, she received the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment Commanding Officer's Commendation, a special award unique to the Canadian Forces. Named the Air Force Armament Laboratory Junior Engineer of the Year in 1983.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-54 Endeavour, January 13-19, 1993. The primary objective of this mission was the deploy of a $200-million NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F). A Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer (DXS) carried in the payload bay, collected over 80,000 seconds of quality X-ray data that will enable investigators to answer questions about the origin of the Milky Way galaxy. The crew demonstrated the physics principles of everyday toys to an interactive audience of elementary school students across the United States. A highly successful Extravehicular Activity (EVA) resulted in many lessons learned that will benefit Space Station Freedom assembly. Mission duration was 5 days, 23 hours, 38 minutes, 17 seconds.

STS-64 Discovery, September 9-20, 1994. On this flight, Helms served as the flight engineer for orbiter operations and the primary RMS operator aboard Space Shuttle. The major objective of this flight was to validate the design and operating characteristics of Lidar in Space Technology Experiment (LITE) by gathering data about the Earth’s troposphere and stratosphere. Additional objectives included the deploy and retrieval of SPARTAN-201, a free-flying satellite that investigated the physics of the solar corona, and the testing of a new EVA maneuvering device. The Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX) was used to collect extensive data on the effects of jet thruster impingement, in preparation for proximity tasks such as space station docking. Mission duration was 10 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes.

STS-78 Columbia, June 20 to July 7, 1996, Helms was the payload commander and flight engineer aboard Columbia, on the longest Space Shuttle mission to date. The mission included studies sponsored by ten nations and five space agencies, and was the first mission to combine both a full microgravity studies agenda and a comprehensive life science investigation. The Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission served as a model for future studies on board the International Space Station. Mission duration was 16 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes.

STS-101 Atlantis, May 19-29, 2000, was a mission dedicated to the delivery and repair of critical hardware for the International Space Station. Helms prime responsibilities during this mission were to perform critical repairs to extend the life of the Functional Cargo Block (FGB). In addition, she had prime responsibility of the onboard computer network and served as the mission specialist for rendezvous with the ISS. Mission duration was 9 days, 20 hours and 9 minutes.

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