Australian Institute of Physics
South Australian Branch
FREE PUBLIC LECTURE
7:30 pm, Tuesday November 11th 1997
by
NASA Astronaut
Scott E. Parazynski (M.D.)
in the FLENTJE Lecture Theatre
Plaza Building, The University of Adelaide
(go down the steps at the NorthEast corner of Hughes Plaza,
or enter from the Horace Lamb building)
Dr Parazynski received a bachelor of science degree in biology
from Stanford University in 1983, continuing on to graduate with
honors from Stanford Medical School in 1989. While in medical
school, he conducted research on fluid shifts that occur during
human space flight. He has been involved in the design of several
exercise devices that are being developed for long-duration space
flight, and has conducted research on high-altitude acclimatization.
Dr. Parazynski has numerous publications in the field of space
physiology, and has a particular expertise in human adaptation to
stressful environments.
A veteran of two space flights, STS-66 in 1994 and STS-86 in
1997, Dr. Parazynski has logged over 521 hours in space including
over 5 hours of EVA (extravehicular activity).
The STS-66 Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-3
(ATLAS-3) mission was part of an on-going program to determine the
earth's energy balance and atmospheric change over an 11-year solar
cycle, particularly with respect to humanity's impact on global
ozone distribution. Dr. Parazynski had responsibility for a number
of on-orbit activities including operation of the ATLAS experiments
and Spacelab Pallet, as well as several secondary experiments in
the crew cabin. He and his crewmates also successfully evaluated
the Interlimb Resistance Device, a free-floating exercise he
developed to prevent musculoskeletal atrophy in microgravity.
STS-86 Atlantis (September 25 to October 6, 1997) was the
seventh mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space
Station "Mir". Dr. Parazynski served as the flight engineer (MS2)
during the flight, and was also the navigator during the rendezvous.
Dr. Parazynski and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Titov performed a
5 hour, 1 minute spacewalk during which they retrieved four
experiment packages first deployed during the STS-76 Shuttle-Mir
docking mission. They also deployed the Spektr Solar Array Cap
which may be used in a future Mir spacewalk to seal a leak in the
Spektr module's damaged hull. Other objectives of EVA included the
evaluation of common EVA tools to be used by astronauts wearing
either Russian or American-made spacesuits, and a systems flight
test of the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER).