Clark

Laurel Blair Salton Clark American Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 10 March 1961. Died 1 February 2003. Physician. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry.

Personal: Female, Married, One child. Born in Ames, Iowa, USA. Perished in Columbia shuttle disintegration during re-entry. US Navy US Navy

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 16 - 1996. Deceased Entered space service: 1 May 1996. Left space service: 1 February 2003. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 15.94 days.

NASA Official Biography

NAME: Laurel Blair Salton Clark, M.D. (Lieutenant Commander, USN): NASA Astronaut Candidate (Mission Specialist)
PERSONAL DATA:: Born March 10, 1961 in Ames, Iowa, but considers Racine, Wisconsin, to be her hometown. Married to Jonathan B. Clark (Captain, USN). They have one child. She enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping, biking, parachuting, flying, traveling. Her mother and step-father, Dr. and Mrs. R.J.C. Brown, reside in Racine, Wisconsin. Her father and step-mother, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Salton, reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His parents, Colonel (ret) & Mrs. E.B. Clark III, reside in Alexandria, Virginia.
EDUCATION:: Graduated from William Horlick High School, Racine Wisconsin in 1979; received bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983 and doctorate in medicine from the same school in 1987.
ORGANIZATIONS:: Aerospace Medical Association, Society of U.S. Naval Flight Surgeons.
AWARDS:: Navy Commendation Medals (3); National Defense Medal, and Overseas Service Ribbon.
EXPERIENCE:: During medical school she did active duty training with the Diving Medicine Department at the Naval Experimental Diving Unit in March 1987. After completing medical school, Dr. Clark underwent postgraduate Medical education in Pediatrics from 1987-1988 at Naval Hospital Bethesda, Maryland. The following year she completed Navy undersea medical officer training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute in Groton Connecticut and diving medical officer training at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama City, Florida, and was designated a Radiation Health Officer and Undersea Medical Officer. She was then assigned as the Submarine Squadron Fourteen Medical Department Head in Holy Loch Scotland. During that assignment she dove with US Navy divers and Naval Special Warfare Unit Two Seals and performed numerous medical evacuations from US submarines. After two years of operational experience she was designated as a Naval Submarine Medical Officer and Diving Medical Officer. She underwent 6 months of aeromedical training at the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Pensacola, Florida and was designated as a Naval Flight Surgeon. She was stationed at MCAS Yuma, Arizona and assigned as Flight Surgeon for a Marine Corps AV-8B Night Attack Harrier Squadron (VMA 211). She made numerous deployments, including one overseas to the Western Pacific, and practiced medicine in austere environments, and flew on multiple aircraft. Her squadron won the Marine Attack Squadron of the year for its successful deployment. She was then assigned as the Group Flight Surgeon for the Marine Aircraft Group (MAG 13). Prior to her selection as an astronaut candidate she served as a Flight Surgeon for the Naval Flight Officer advanced training squadron (VT-86) in Pensacola, Florida. LCDR Clark is Board Certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners and holds a Wisconsin Medical License. Her military qualifications include Radiation Health Officer, Undersea Medical Officer, Diving Medical Officer, Submarine Medical Officer, and Naval Flight Surgeon. She is a Basic Life Support Instructor, Advanced Cardiac Life Support Provider, Advanced Trauma Life Support Provider, and Hyperbaric Chamber Advisor.
NASA EXPERIENCE:: Selected by NASA in April 1996, Dr. Clark reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996 to begin two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of initial training will qualify her for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.

JANUARY 1997

Clark Spaceflight Log

16 January 2003 Flight: STS-107. Flight Up: STS-107. Flight Back: STS-107. Flight Time: 15.94 days.

Clark Chronology

5 December 1983 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 16 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 10 pilots and 25 mission specialists selected from over 2,400 applicants. 9 additional international astronauts.

16 January 2003 - STS-107. Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight: STS-107. The last solo shuttle earth orbit mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. Launch delayed from May 23, June 27, July 11 and 19, November 29, 2002.

16 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #02. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's crewmembers unstowed equipment and began activation of the Spacehab Research Double Module in the shuttle's cargo bay, setting the stage for 24-hour-a-day science during the shuttle's 16-day research mission.

Columbia lifted off at 9:39 a.m. CST from the Kennedy Space Center in near-perfect ...more...

16 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #01. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center this morning on the first shuttle mission of the year, carrying the first Israeli astronaut into orbit along with six crewmates on a marathon international scientific research flight.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...

17 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #03. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. In their first full day in orbit, Columbia's seven crewmembers completed activation of the SPACEHAB Research Double Module in the shuttle's cargo bay and all of its scientific experiments.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...

18 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #04. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts pointed two Israeli cameras over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean today in search of small dust particles that might impact the weather and began experiments in human life sciences in the third day of the STS-107 scientific research flight.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...

19 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #05. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's astronauts studied combustion properties and the response of their own bodies in weightlessness and the behavior of soot in space one-quarter of the way through their marathon scientific research mission.

Red Team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...

20 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #06. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's astronauts conducted scientific studies ranging from the behavior of granular materials in weightlessness to the effects of microgravity on fungi, and filmed the sprites associated with thunderstorms across the globe as their scientific research flight continued in its fifth day.

Red team members Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and ...more...

21 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #07. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The seven astronauts aboard Columbia continued to conduct scientific studies 24-7 today, concentrating their efforts on combustion in weightlessness, the growth of cell cultures, and measurements of the ozone layer.

The Blue Team was awakened at 3:39 p.m. CDT to the sounds of "The Wedding Song" ...more...

22 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #08. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The seven astronauts aboard Columbia beamed down television views of their smallest companions in orbit today, including insects, spiders, fish, bees and silk worms that are part of the Space Technology and Research Students package of experiments designed and developed by students in six countries.

The television pictures showed ants busily creating and moving about tunnels in ...more...

23 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #09. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The STS-107 scientific research mission aboard Columbia passed the halfway mark today as the 80 microgravity investigations continue on schedule.

Highlighting the investigations today for both the Blue and Red Teams were the SOFBALL ...more...

24 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #10. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Research continued aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the seven astronauts aboard continued to work in shifts, coordinating work with investigators on the ground.

Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark, and ...more...

25 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #11. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts completed an experiment studying the activity of bone cells in microgravity and began final tests with a technology demonstration designed to investigate the behavior of capillary-pumped loops in space as the 16-day international science mission completed Flight Day 10.

Toward the end of their workday at 1 a.m. CST this morning, Pilot Willie McCool ...more...

26 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #12. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Scientific research continued aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the STS-107 mission headed into the homestretch with a variety of experiments in multiple disciplines.

The Red team of astronauts, working by day, and the Blue team, working by night, ...more...

27 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #13. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Some experiments have run their course aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, but there is more in store as STS-107 science continues around the clock in the Spacehab Research Double Module.

The Structures of Flame Balls experiment, looking at ways of improving engine combustion ...more...

28 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #14. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The Red team of astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia accomplished repairs on the third and final combustion experiment of STS-107 this afternoon, and support scientists on the ground were looking forward to working with the Blue team on the first scientific runs.

Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla reported a good leak check of the Combustion Module-2 ...more...

29 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #15. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia's seven astronauts took a break from their around-the-clock scientific research today to answer reporters' questions in the traditional on-orbit crew news conference.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...

31 January 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #17. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Columbia crewmembers deactivated experiments and began stowing gear to prepare for their scheduled Saturday landing at the Kennedy Space Center.

Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, Kalpana ...more...

1 February 2003 - Loss of STS-107. Assignment: Return Crew. Flight: STS-107. The shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. All hands aboard were lost. The loss grounded the shuttle fleet pending a failure investigation and left the crew of Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin aboard the International Space Station with a Soyuz emergency return vehicle but without means of major station resupply.

1 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #19. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. The Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts were lost today when the vehicle broke up over north central Texas during its reentry from orbit.

Communications were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST, while ...more...

2 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #20. Flight: ISS EO-6, STS-107. Aided by federal and local agencies, NASA stepped up its inquiry into the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts. Multiple investigative teams continue to pore over engineering data in an effort to uncover the cause of the breakup of the orbiter over Texas on Saturday 16 minutes from landing.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore told an afternoon briefing that a Mishap ...more...

3 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #21. Flight: ISS EO-6. NASA engineers continued to review data and recover debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia today as the analysis of what caused the orbiter to break up Saturday en route to landing continued.

Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore told an afternoon briefing that several ...more...

4 February 2003 - STS-107 MCC Status Report #22. Flight: ISS EO-6. As NASA paused to pay tribute to Columbia's astronauts, the agency reported making "considerable progress" in recovering debris from the Space Shuttle and analyzing data in the search for clues to what caused the orbiter to breakup 16 minutes before its landing last Saturday.

President and Mrs. Bush joined NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in honoring astronauts ...more...

Bibliography and Further Reading

NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Accessed at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/.

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