Former NASA lead spacewalker visits Lajes Airmen

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores --  After retiring from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a former astronaut arrived at Lajes Field March 17, and got a chance to thank base members for their contribution to the space shuttle program.

Dr. Scott E. Parazynski visited to get a first-hand view of Lajes operations, as an emergency landing site for the space shuttle.

"Lajes is one of our contingency abort landing sites," said Dr. Parazynski. "I was invited by the U.S. Embassy and the consulate to visit with the folks that support the space shuttle program over the life of the program."

The former astronaut took time to visit the students at the Depart- ment of Defense Dependents School.

During the visit to the American school, Dr. Parazynski, who attended with his son, talked to the students about the space shuttle voyage to the orbit.

"When I was with NASA for 17 years, as an astronaut, I flew five missions and did seven spacewalks," said Dr. Parazynski.

His first mission, one of the most memorable ones, was Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science-3, carried out in 1994 and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The voyage took about eight days before landing at Edwards AFB, Calif.

ATLAS-3 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 humans' impact on the global-ozone distribution. During the mission, Dr. Parazynski and his crewmembers circled the earth 175 times and traveled over 4.5 million miles.

Dr. Parazynski was also able to help bolster bilateral relations between Americans and their host nation partners. He had a unique opportunity to visit, meet and talk with students in the local community when he visited a Portuguese school in Praia.

"The regional government of the Azores also helped sponsor this trip," said the former astronaut, accompanied by a delegate of the U.S. Consulate in Sao Miguel, Gavin Sundwall. "So, I have been speaking with a lot of the school kids, and it's really been a lot of fun. They had great questions, and they were very inquisitive."

Dr. Parazynski served as a lead astronaut and traveled over 23 million miles during his spacewalk career before retiring in 2009.

His visit here culminated with a trip to the Lajes fire department for a briefing that highlighted the Lajes mission whenever the emergency operation center convenes for a shuttle launch. While at the briefing, Dr. Parazynski thanked the Airmen at Lajes for what they accomplish every day and how important their mission is to the United States and to the world.

The astronaut was finally escorted in a grand style by the 65th Civil Engineer Squadron "Striker" fire truck to the 65th Operations Support Squadron, where he met the wing leadership, Lajes Airmen and their family members. He shook hands with them and signed autographs.

"I am very happy to be here," Dr. Parazynski said. "Thank you all for everything you do, for the space mission, and for your service."