Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

Early life and education Stefanyshyn-Piper was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, of Ukrainian-American heritage. Her father, Michael (Mykhailo) Stefanyshyn, now deceased, was born in Polish-governed Halychyna (today in Ukraine), and sent to work in Germany during World War II. Stefanyshyn-Piper was raised in the Ukrainian cultural community of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, is a member of Plast – a Ukrainian scouting organization, and speaks Ukrainian.

Stefanyshyn-Piper graduated in 1980 from what was then the all-girls Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, and holds Bachelor of Science (1984) and Master of Science (1985) degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a licensed ham radio operator with Technician License KD5TVR.

Stefanyshyn-Piper married Glenn A. Piper, and they have one son. EVA One (Duration 5 hours, 26 minutes) — With astronaut Joe Tanner, Stefanyshyn-Piper conducted initial installation of the P3/P4 truss onto the space station. Connected power cables on the truss, released the launch restraints on the solar array blanket box, the Beta Gimbal Assembly, and the solar array wings. Configured the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), and removed two circuit interrupt devices to prepare for STS-116. Stefanyshyn-Piper became the seventh American woman to conduct a spacewalk. EVA Three (Duration 6 hours, 42 minutes) — With astronaut Joe Tanner, Stefanyshyn-Piper installed a radiator onto the P3/4 truss, powered up a cooling radiator for the new solar arrays, replaced an S-Band radio antenna, and installed insulation for another antenna. Tanner took photos of the shuttle's wings using an infrared camera to test the camera's ability to detect damage.

During her pre-flight interview, she described her philosophy about human exploration of space:

Piper fainted twice during the STS-115 welcome home ceremony. The NASA flight surgeon who assisted her noted that "for a returning astronaut, the symptoms she experienced are very normal for what can occur during re-adaptation".

NEEMO 12 (May 7–18, 2007) The NEEMO 12 crew. L-R: Josef Schmid, Stefanyshyn-Piper, James Talacek, Dominic Landucci, José M. Hernández and Timothy J. Broderick. Stefanyshyn-Piper was commander of the 12th expedition of NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO), a NASA program for studying human survival in the Aquarius underwater laboratory in preparation for future space exploration.

STS-126 - Endeavour (November 14–30, 2008)

Stefanyshyn-Piper flew as a mission specialist on STS-126, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour (launched November 14, 2008, and returned November 30), during which she participated in and was Lead Spacewalker on three of four spacewalks. The mission ended when Endeavour landed successfully at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Following Stefanyshyn-Piper's third spacewalk during STS-126, her fifth overall, her total time in EVA became 33 hours, 42 minutes, putting her in twenty-fifth place for total time in EVA.

EVA One (Duration 6 hours, 52 minutes) — With astronaut Stephen G. Bowen, Stefanyshyn-Piper transferred an empty nitrogen tank assembly from ESP3 to the shuttle's cargo bay, transferred a new flex hose rotary coupler to ESP3 for future use, removed an insulation cover on the Kibo External Facility berthing mechanism, began cleaning and lubrication of the starboard SARJ, and replacement of its 11 trundle bearing assemblies. EVA Two (Duration 6 hours, 45 minutes) — With astronaut Robert S. Kimbrough, Stefanyshyn-Piper relocated the two Crew and Equipment Translation Aid (CETA) carts from the starboard side of the Mobile Transporter to the port side, lubricated the station robotic arm's latching end effector A snare bearings, continued cleaning and lubrication of the starboard SARJ. EVA was conducted on the station's tenth anniversary. EVA Three (Duration 6 hours, 57 minutes) -- With astronaut Stephen G. Bowen, Stefanyshyn-Piper completed cleaning and lubrication of all but one of the trundle bearing assemblies (TBA) on the starboard SARJ. The final TBA was replaced during EVA 4.

Lost tool bag during spacewalk

During the first EVA of STS-126 on November 18, 2008, as Stefanyshyn-Piper was preparing to begin work on the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, she noticed a significant amount of grease in her tool bag. "I think we had a grease gun explode in the large bag, because there's grease in the bag," Stefanyshyn-Piper reported to Kimbrough, who was working inside the shuttle to help coordinate the EVA. When in orbit, it was visible from the ground using a telescope.

After taking an inventory of the items inside the lost bag, managers on the ground determined that Bowen had all those items in his bag, and the two could share equipment.

During the Mission Status Briefing, lead International Space Station Flight Director Ginger Kerrick said that there was no way to know what caused the bag to come loose. Said Stefanyshyn-Piper of the incident, "that definitely was not the high point of the EVA. It was very disheartening to watch it float away."

Retirement from NASA In July 2009, Stefanyshyn-Piper retired from NASA's Astronaut Corps to return to her Navy duties. She was awarded two NASA Space Flight Medals, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

In August 2009, Stefanyshyn-Piper reported to the Naval Sea Systems Command as the chief technology officer.

Further Navy career On May 20, 2011, Captain Stefanyshyn-Piper became commander of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Maryland.

Stefanyshyn-Piper retired from the U.S. Navy after 30 years of active duty service on July 1, 2015.