Dr. Dan Barry

Following graduate school at Princeton University, Dr. Dan Barry was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in physics at Princeton. He then attended the University of Miami Medical School, graduating in 1982. He completed an internship and a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residency at the University of Michigan in 1985. He was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and in the Bioengineering Program at the University of Michigan in 1985, and his tenure was approved by the Regents in 1992. He spent the summers of 1985-87 at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, supported by the Grass Foundation for work in skeletal muscle physiology and as the Associate Director of the Grass Foundation Fellowship Program (1986-87). His research primarily involved biological signal processing, including signal processing theory, algorithms, and applications to specific biological systems. The applications included acoustic signals generated by contracting skeletal muscle, electrical signals from muscle, and heart sounds. He has also worked in prosthetic design. Dr. Barry’s work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Grass Foundation, and the American Heart Association of Michigan. He has five patents, over 50 articles in scientific journals, and has served on two scientific journal editorial boards. Selected by NASA in March 1992, Dr. Barry reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. He completed one year of training and qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews. Dr. Barry has worked on primary payload development, the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), portable computing issues for Space Shuttle, Chief of Astronaut Appearances, flight clinic ombudsman, source board member for the NASA Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), Astronaut Office team lead to NASDA, the Japanese Space Agency, Chief, ISS Hardware, US and International, and a tour of duty with the Office of Biological & Physical Research and the Office of Education, NASA Headquarters, Washington D.C. A veteran of three space flights, STS-72 (1996), STS-96 (1999) and STS-105 (2001), Dr. Barry has logged over 734 hours in space, including 4 spacewalks totaling 25 hours and 53 minutes. Dr. Barry’s spaceflight experience includes STS-72 Endeavour (January 11-20, 1996) was a 9-day flight during which the crew retrieved the Space Flyer Unit (launched from Japan 10-months earlier), deployed and retrieved the OAST-Flyer, and Dr. Barry performed a 6 hour, 9 minute spacewalk designed to demonstrate and evaluate techniques to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station. Mission duration was 142 Earth orbits, traveling 3.7 million miles in 214 hours and 41 seconds. STS-96 Discovery (May 27 to June 6, 1999) was the 1st mission to dock with the International Space Station. It was a 10-day mission during which the crew delivered 4 tons of logistics and supplies in preparation for the arrival of the first crew to live on the station. The mission was accomplished in 153 Earth orbits, traveling 4 million miles in 235 hours and 13 minutes. Dr. Barry performed a spacewalk of 7 hours and 55 minute duration. STS-105 Discovery (Aug 10-22, 2001) was the 11th mission to the International Space Station. While at the orbital outpost, the STS-105 crew delivered the Expedition-3 crew, attached the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, and transferred over 2.7 metric tons of supplies and equipment to the station. Dr. Barry and Pat Forrester performed two spacewalks totaling 11 hours and 45 minutes of EVA time. STS-105 also brought home the Expedition-2 crew. The STS-105 mission was accomplished in 186 orbits of the Earth, traveling over 4.9 million miles in 285 hours and 13 minutes. Dr. Barry retired from NASA in April 2005 to start his own company “Denbar Robotics” where he currently builds robots (www.denbarrobotics.com). His full bio can be found at www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/barry.html.