Patricia S. Cowings

Patricia S. Cowings (born December 15, 1948) is an aerospace psychophysiologist. She was the first American woman to be trained as a scientist astronaut by NASA; though she was an alternate for a space flight in 1979, she did not travel to space. She is most known for her studies in the physiology of astronauts in outer space, as well as helping find cures for astronaut's motion sickness. She is credited in creating and patenting the autogenic-feedback training exercise (AFTE) used to treat astronauts.

Cowings is most well known for developing methods to combat space sickness for astronauts in space. She began working at NASA in 1971, when she was a graduate student and received a fellowship in the Graduate Research Science Program. In 1973, she graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a psychology degree.

Although Cowings never made it to space, she became the first African American woman scientist to be trained as an astronaut by NASA in 1979. Psychology and later psychophysiology showed her how to enhance human potential. 'What better field is there than to study the animal who created all the other fields? Humans!' This love was further helped by her psychologist aunt, whom she considered a deep inspiration because she had earned a PhD from the University of California at Davis in 1973.

Career Dr. Patricia Cowings, a research psychologist in the Biomedical Division of Ames Research Center She did most of her research at NASA Ames Research Center. There she developed and patented a physiological training system called Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE), which enables people to learn voluntary self-control of up to 24 bodily responses in six hours. Her work was first tested in 1985 for (STS 51-b & STS 51c) Spacelab-3 and the first DOD shuttle mission. She tested her AFTE training method also on the Space J-Lab Mission (the first Japanese shuttle mission), with her work focusing on ridding of the astronaut's motion sickness. In the early 1980s, Cowings recognized that many astronauts faced space sickness, and studied its psychological and biological impact. NASA Individual Achievement Award (1993) Black Engineer of the Year Award (1997) AMES Honor Award for Technology Development (1999) NASA Space Act Award for Invention (2002) National Women of Color Technology Award (2006) NASA Space Act Board Award (2008) Ames African American Advisory Group's (AAAG) Achievement Award (2010) Celestial Torch Award from the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Los Angeles (2014)