NASA astronaut Donald R. Pettit recently completed his first space flight as NASA ISS Science Officer aboard the International Space Station (ISS), logging over 161 days in space, including more than 13 EVA (extra vehicular activity or spacewalk) hours. During its more than five months aboard the International Space Station, the crew worked with numerous U.S. and Russian science experiments. Pettit and the mission commander Ken Bowersox performed two EVAs to continue the external outfitting of the orbital outpost. The Expedition-6 crew launched on STS-113 Space Shuttle Endeavour and returned to Earthon Soyuz TMA-1. Pettit was selected by NASA in April 1996, and he reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified as a mission specialist. Previously, Pettit was a staff scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, from 1984 to 1996. He received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Oregon State University in 1978 and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona in 1983.
