Jett

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Jett

Brent Ward Jett Jr Status: Active. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Birth Date: 05 October 1958. Birth City: Pontiac. Birth State: Michigan. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1992 NASA Group. Date Selected: 31 March 1992. Number of Flights: 3. Total Time: 29.95 days.

NASA Official Biography

NAME: Brent W. Jett, Jr. (Commander, USN)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born October 5, 1958, in Pontiac, Michigan, but considers Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to be his hometown. Married to Janet Leigh Lyon of Patuxent River, Maryland. . He enjoys water and snow skiing, board sailing, boating, running, basketball, squash. His parents, Mr. & Mrs. Brent W. Jett, Sr., reside in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Patricia Lyon, resides in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her father, Mr. James Richard Lyon, Sr., is deceased.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Northeast High School, Oakland Park, Florida, in 1976; received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981; a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1989.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Association of Naval Aviation, U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association, Association of Space Explorers.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Graduated first of 976 in the Class of 1981 at U.S. Naval Academy; Distinguished Graduate U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Class 95. Awarded the Navy Commendation Medal, 2 Navy Unit Commendations, Navy Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Medal, NASA Space Flight Medal, and various other service awards.

EXPERIENCE:

Jett received his commission from the U.S. Naval Academy in May 1981 and was designated a Naval Aviator in March 1983. He then reported to Fighter Squadron 101 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, for initial F-14 Tomcat training. Upon completion of this training, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 74 and made overseas deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-60). While assigned to Fighter Squadron 74, he was designated as an airwing qualified landing signal officer (LSO) and also attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Topgun). Jett was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School - Test Pilot School Cooperative Education Program in July 1986, and completed 15 months of graduate work at Monterey, California, before attending the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in June 1989. After graduation in June 1990, he worked as a project test pilot at the Carrier Stability Department of the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate, Naval Air Test Center, flying the F-14A/B/D, T-45A, and A-7E. Jett returned to the operational Navy in September 1991 and was again assigned to Fighter Squadron 74, flying the F-14B aboard the USS Saratoga (CV-60). Jett was deployed with VF-74 to the Mediterranean Sea when selected for the astronaut program.

He has logged over 2,500 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft and has over 450 carrier landings.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected by NASA in March 1992, Jett reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. After 2-years of various technical assignments in the Astronaut Office, Jett was assigned to his first mission as the pilot of STS-72. During the 9-day flight (January 11-20, 1996) aboard Endeavour, the crew retrieved the Space Flyer Unit (launched from Japan 10-months earlier), deployed and retrieved the OAST-Flyer, and conducted two spacewalks to demonstrate and evaluate techniques to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station. More recently, he was the pilot on STS-81 (January 12-22, 1997). STS-81 was the fifth in a series of joint missions between the U.S. Space Shuttle and the Russian Space Station Mir and the second one involving an exchange of U.S. astronauts. In five days of docked operations more than three tons of food, water, experiment equipment and samples were moved back and forth between the two spacecraft. In completing his second space flight, Jett has orbited the Earth 302 times, traveled 7.6 million miles, and logged a total of 458 hours and 56 minutes in space

JANUARY 1997

Flight Log

STS-72 - - 1996 Jan 11 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 8.92 days. Flight details: STS-72.
Deployed and retrieved OAST Flyer; retrieved SFU Space Flyer Unit. Beside the two satellite retrievals, the mission included two spacewalks.
STS-81 - - 1997 Jan 12 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 10.20 days. Flight details: STS-81.
After a night launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the Shuttle docked with Mir at 03:55 GMT on January 14. STS-81 transferred 2,715 kg of equipment to and from the Mir, the largest transfer of items to that date. During the docked phase, 640 kg of water, 515 kg of U.S. science equipment, 1,000 kg of Russian logistics, and 120 kg of miscellaneous material were transferred to Mir. Returned to Earth aboard Atlantis were 570 kg of U.S. science material, 405 kg of Russian logistics and 98 kg of miscellaneous material. At 02:16 GMT January 19, Atlantis separated from Mir after picking up John Blaha, who had arrived aboard STS-79 on September 19, 1996, and dropping off Jerry Linenger, who was to stay aboard Mir for over four months. The Shuttle backed off along the -RBAR (i.e. toward the Earth) to a distance of 140 m before beginning a flyaround at 02:31 GMT. Most of the flyaround was at a distance from Mir of 170 m. The first 'orbit' around Mir was complete at 03:15, and the second was completed at 04:02 GMT. Then the Orbiter fired its jets to drift away from the orbit of Mir. NASA's first Shuttle mission of 1997 came to a close with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 14:22 GMT on January 22 (after the first opportunity was waved off due to cloud cover at the Cape).
STS-97 - - 2000 Dec 1 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 10.83 days. Flight details: STS-97.
Endeavour was launched on an assembly mission to the to the International Space Station. The external tank and the Orbiter entered a 74 x 325 km orbit at 0314 GMT. Endeavour's OMS burn raised its perigee to 205 km at around 0347 GMT; the ET re-entered over the Pacific. Endeavour docked with the Station's PMA-3 docking port at 1959 GMT on December 2. Astronauts then installed the P6 solar panel truss to the station during a series of spacewalks. The P6 was made up of the LS (Long Spacer), PV-1 IEA (Integrated Equipment Assembly) and the PVAA (Photovoltaic Array). The LS carried two Thermal Control Systems with radiators to eject waste heat from the Station; these radiators were to be moved to truss segments S4 and S6 later in assembly. The PVAA had solar array wings SAW-2B and SAW-4B, which deployed to a span of 73 meters. Only after completion of three station assembly space walks on December 3, 5, and 7 did the Endeavour crew enter the station (at 1436 GMT on December 8), delivering supplies to Alpha's Expedition One crew. Hatches were closed again at 1551 GMT December 9, and Endeavour undocked at 1913 GMT the same day. After one flyaround of the station, Endeavour fired its engines to depart the vicinity at 2017 GMT December 9. The deorbit burn was at 2158 GMT on December 11, changing the orbit from 351 x 365 km to 27 x 365 km, with landing at Runway 15 of Kennedy Space Center at 2303 GMT.
The payload bay of Endeavour for STS-97 contained a total cargo of 18740 kg:
- Bay 1-2:
  - Orbiter Docking System 1800 kg
  - 3 EMU spacesuits (S/N unknown) 360 kg
  - FPPU experiment (in airlock) 23 kg. The FPPU (Floating Potential Probe Experiment) was installed on P6 to measure charge build-up as the arrays pass through the ionosphere plasma. P6 had devices to bleed off excess charge, and FPPU would monitor their effectiveness.
  - APCU Assembly Power Converter Unit 35 kg
  - APCU Assembly Power Converter Unit 35 kg
- Bay 3-6:
  - ITS P6 Long Spacer 4000 kg
  - TCS radiator (aft) 500 kg
  - TCS radiator (starboard) 500 kg
- Bay 8-11:
  - ITS P6 Integrated Equipment Assembly 7200 kg
  - PV radiator P6 500 kg
- Bay 12-13:
  - ITS P6 Photovoltaic Array/Beta Gimbal Assembly. 1000 kg
  - Solar array wing 2B 1070 kg
  - Solar array wing 4B 1070 kg
- Bay 13S: IMAX Cargo Bay Camera 238 kg
- Sill: Canadarm RMS 303 410 kg

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Last update 3 May 2001.
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