1. Jeffrey Shears Ashby was born on June 16,1954 and is an American mechanical engineer, and former naval officer and aviator, test pilot and NASA astronaut, a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.
15 Facts About Jeffrey Ashby
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Jeff Ashby was born on June 16,1954, in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, southwest of Denver.
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Jeffrey Ashby attended the University of Idaho as a member of the school's joint Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps program, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1976.
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Jeffrey Ashby later earned a Master of Science degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee in 1993.
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Jeffrey Ashby is a 1986 graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, known as "TOPGUN", and the US Naval Test Pilot School.
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Jeffrey Ashby was the Navy Attack Aviator of the Year in 1991.
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Jeffrey Ashby released a Walleye I into the helicopter and brought back TV footage of the attack back to Midway.
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Jeffrey Ashby accumulated over 7,000 flight hours and 1,000 carrier landings during six aircraft carrier deployments in his Navy career.
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Jeffrey Ashby was selected as an astronaut candidate in December 1994 at age 40.
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Jeffrey Ashby was initially scheduled to be the pilot on STS-85 in 1997 but was replaced due to a family illness.
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Jeffrey Ashby piloted Space Shuttle missions STS-93 in July 1999 and STS-100 in April 2001, and commanded STS-112 in October 2002.
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Jeffrey Ashby has traveled over 11 million miles, flown 436 orbits around the Earth, and logged over 660 hours in space.
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Jeffrey Ashby was hired by Jeff Bezos's private spaceflight company Blue Origin as the Chief of Mission Assurance, where he works to assure safety for human space flight.
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On July 15,2019, Jeffrey Ashby sustained severe injuries after falling 500 feet near the summit of La Plata Peak mountain.
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Jeffrey Ashby was located later that night and transported to the hospital after being recovered the following morning.