Patricia Ann Straat

Patricia Ann Straat (March 28, 1936 – October 23, 2020) was an American space scientist. She was a co-investigator for the Labeled Release life detection experiment on the 1976 Viking mission, the first successful spacecraft landing on Mars. In 2019, Straat wrote the book To Mars With Love, which documented the 1976 Viking Mission to Mars.

Early life and education Straat was born in Rochester, New York. She attended Irondequoit High School. Her parents were Marcelline and Harold Straat, and her father was an optical engineer. She has said that she became interested in space as a child, and could name all of the constellations in her night sky by the age of 12. Straat earned her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College, a liberal arts school in Ohio. She moved to Johns Hopkins University for her graduate studies, where she specialized in biochemistry.

Research and career Straat worked as a U.S. Public Health Service Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1968. Straat worked on molecular biology and enzymes. She said that the Moon landing reminded her of her childhood love for space, and began to consider changing career. In 1970 Straat joined Biospherics Inc, a spin-out company owned by Levin, where she worked as a biochemist. Together they searched for organic gases in the Martian atmosphere.

After a decade at Biospherics Inc, Straat joined the National Institutes of Health, where she held various leadership positions, including overseeing the referral section. The journal Astrobiology described To Mars With Love as a “remarkable book, by a remarkable woman, about a remarkable instrument on the most remarkable mission ever to go to Mars,”.

Selected publications

Personal life Straat was a lifelong equestrian, and in her retirement trained her King Charles Spaniel Piper, bringing home numerous prizes. Straat suffered from lung cancer and died in October 2020. She was survived by her partner Mary Grande.