Nicholas Patrick

Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick (born 19 November 1964), is a British-American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. His flight on the 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth person born in the United Kingdom to go into space.

Personal life

Patrick was born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1964 to Gillian and Stewart Patrick. His mother came from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. He grew up in both London and Rye, New York, and became a United States citizen in 1994. Patrick is married to a paediatrician originally from Peru and has three children.

Education and early career Patrick was first educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge (receiving an undergraduate degree in Engineering in 1986). During his university years, he learned to fly as a member of the Royal Air Force's Cambridge University Air Squadron. After Cambridge, he worked for four years as an engineer for the Aircraft Engines Division of General Electric, in Lynn, Massachusetts in the United States.

Patrick then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a master's degree (1990) and a PhD. (1996), both in Mechanical Engineering. Afterwards, he joined Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle.

Space career NASA career

Patrick was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1998 and reported to NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) for astronaut training in August 1998. His initial training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, and physiological, survival, and classroom training in preparation for T-38 flight.

Patrick has logged over 308 hours in space, having completed his first space mission as a member of the crew of STS-116 – a construction and logistics mission to the International Space Station. He occasionally serves as a CAPCOM; for example, he worked with the Orbit 2 team for STS-120.

Patrick notably put the finishing touches on the Tranquility node during STS-130.

In July 2004, Patrick served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 6 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for ten days. In August 2007, he served as the commander of the NEEMO 13 mission, living underwater for another ten days.

Patrick retired from the NASA Astronaut Corps in May 2012. He currently holds the positions of New Shepard Flight Director and Senior Director of Human Integration at Blue Origin.