Dr. Sandra Magnus

Dr. Sandra Magnus began her NASA career in 1996 with training for flight assignment as a mission specialist. She gained much international experience working with the European Space Agency (ESA), with the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), and with Brazil on facility-type payloads. She also traveled to Russia in support of testing and product development. Dr. Magnus flew in space on the STS-112 shuttle mission in 2002, and on the final shuttle flight, STS-135, last year. In addition, she flew to the International Space Station on STS-126 in November 2008, served as flight engineer and science officer on Expedition 18, and returned home on STS-119 after four and a half months. Following her assignment on Station she served at NASA Headquarters in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Her last duty at NASA, after STS-135, was as the deputy chief of the Astronaut Office. Before joining NASA she worked at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft on military aircraft programs. Born and raised in Belleville, Ill., Dr. Magnus graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla in 1986 with a degree in physics and in 1990 with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, and holds a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Georgia Tech (1996). She has received numerous awards, including the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the 40 at 40 Award (given to former collegiate women athletes to recognize the impact of Title IX). AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and nearly 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.