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Williams, Dafydd Rhys 'Dave'

Person · Canada

Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.

Williams Dave
Williams Dave
Credit: www.spacefacts.de

Canadian physician mission specialist astronaut 1992-2008.

Educated McGill.

NASA Official Biography

NAME: Dafydd (Dave) Rhys Williams (M.D.)
CSA Astronaut
PERSONAL DATA:
Born May 16, 1954, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Married to the former Cathy Fraser of Pointe-Claire, Quebec. They have one son. Dr. Williams enjoys flying, scuba diving, hiking, sailing, kayaking, canoeing, downhill and cross-country skiing. His mother, Isobel Williams (nee Berger), resides in Williamsburg, Ontario. His father, William Williams, is deceased. Her father, Arthur Fraser, resides in Sechelt, British Columbia. Her mother, Olga Fraser (nee Bardahl), is deceased.
EDUCATION:
Attended High School in Beaconsfield, Quebec. Bachelor of science degree in biology from McGill University, Montreal, 1976.; Master of science degree in physiology, Doctorate of medicine, and Master of Surgery from McGill University, Montreal, in 1983. Completed residency in Family Practice in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa in 1985. Obtained Fellowship in Emergency Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, following completion of a Residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Toronto, 1988.
ORGANIZATIONS:
Member, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, the Aerospace Medical Association, the Canadian Society for Aerospace Medicine and the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. Past affiliations include: the Society for Neuroscience, the New York Academy of Science and the Montreal Physiological Society.
SPECIAL HONORS:
Awarded the Commonwealth Certificate of Thanks (1973) and the Commonwealth Recognition Award (1975) for his contribution to the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada. Academic awards include the A.S. Hill Bursary, McGill University, in 1980; the Walter Hoare Bursary, McGill University, in 1981; the J.W. McConnell Award, McGill University, 1981-1983. He was named Faculty Scholar, in 1982, and University Scholar, in 1983, by the Faculty of Medicine, McGill University. In 1983, he also received the Psychiatry Prize and the Wood Gold Medal from the Faculty of Medicine and was named on the Dean's Honor List by the Physiology Department, McGill University, for his postgraduate research. He was twice awarded the second prize for his participation in the University of Toronto Emergency Medicine Research Papers Program, in 1986 and 1988, and received top honors in that competition in 1987.
EXPERIENCE:
Dr. Williams received postgraduate training in advanced invertebrate physiology at the Friday Harbour Laboratories, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Subsequently, his interests switched to vertebrate neurophysiology when, for his Master's Thesis, he became involved in basic science research on the role of adrenal steroid hormones in modifying the activity of regions within the central nervous system involved in the regulation of sleep wake cycles. While working in the Neurophysiological Laboratories at the Allan Memorial Institute for Psychiatry, he assisted in clinical studies of slow wave potentials within the central nervous system.

His clinical research in Emergency Medicine has included studies evaluating the initial training and skill retention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills, patient survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, the early identification of trauma patients at high risk and the efficacy of tetanus immunization in the elderly.

In 1988, he became an Emergency Physician with the Department of Emergency Services at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre as well as a Lecturer with the Department of Surgery, University of Toronto. He served as a member of the Air Ambulance Utilization Committee with the Ministry of Health in Ontario, both as an academic Emergency Physician and later as a representative of community Emergency Physicians. In addition, he has trained basic ambulance attendants, paramedics, nurses, residents and practicing physicians in cardiac and trauma resuscitation as a Course Director in Advanced Cardiac Life Support with the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation and in Advanced Trauma Life Support with the American College of Surgeons.

From 1989 to 1990, he served as an Emergency Physician with the Emergency Associates of Kitchener Waterloo and as Medical Director of the Westmount Urgent Care Clinic. In 1990, he returned to Sunnybrook as Medical Director of the ACLS Program and Coordinator of Postgraduate Training in Emergency Medicine. Subsequently, he became the Acting Director of the Department of Emergency Services at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Toronto and Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Dr. Williams was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in June 1992. He completed basic training and in May 1993 was appointed Manager of the Missions and Space Medicine Group within the Astronaut Program. His collateral duty assignments have included supervising the implementation of Operational Space Medicine activities within the Astronaut Program, and the coordination of the Canadian Astronaut Program Space Unit Life Simulation (CAPSULS) Project. In February 1994 he participated in a 7-day space mission simulation. During this CAPSULS Project, he was the principal investigator of a study to evaluate the initial training and retention of resuscitation skills by non-medical astronauts. He was also assigned as one of the crew members and acted as the crew medical officer.

He remains active in life science and space medicine research, both as a Principal Investigator and as a Co-investigator. He has recently been appointed as an Assistant Professor of Surgery, McGill University, and is participating in clinical activities at St. Mary's Hospital and at the Montreal General Hospital.

NASA EXPERIENCE:
In January 1995, Dr. Williams was selected to join the 1995 international class of NASA mission specialist astronaut candidates. He reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 and completed training and evaluation in May 1996. On completing basic training, he was assigned to work technical issues for the Payloads/Habitability Branch of the Astronaut Office. Dr. Williams is currently assigned to the crew of STS-90, a 16-day Neurolab mission dedicated to investigations on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. Launch is targeted for March 1998.

JANUARY 1997

More at: Williams, Dave.

Related

Family
Astronaut
Country
Canada
Spacecraft
ISS
Flights
STS-90, STS-118
Projects
STS
Agency
CSA
Bibliography
12, 6208

Chronology

35 events

1954 May 16

  • Birth of Dr Dafydd Rhys 'Dave' Williams - . Nation: Canada. Related Persons: Williams, Dave. Canadian physician mission specialist astronaut 1992-2008. 2 spaceflights, 28.7 days in space. Flew to orbit on STS-90 (1998), STS-118..

1998 April 17

18:19 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39B. Launch Platform: MLP2. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle.
  • STS-90 - . Call Sign: Columbia. Crew: Altman, Buckey, Hire, Linnehan, Pawelczyk, Searfoss, Williams, Dave. Backup Crew: Dunlap, Mukai. Payload: Columbia F25 / Spacelab LM Eurolab. Mass: 115,900 kg (255,500 lb). Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Houston. Manufacturer: Bremen. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-90. Spacecraft Bus: Shuttle. Spacecraft: Columbia. Duration: 15.91 days. Decay Date: 1998-05-03 . USAF Sat Cat: 25297 . COSPAR: 1998-022A. Apogee: 274 km (170 mi). Perigee: 247 km (153 mi). Inclination: 39.00 deg. Period: 89.70 min.

    Columbia rolled out to pad 39B on March 23. Payloads:

    • Spacelab transfer tunnel
    • Spacelab Long Module, with Neurolab experiments for the following life science studies:
      • Chronic Recording of Otolith Nerves in Microgravity
      • Development of the Aortic Baroreflex under Conditions of Microgravity
      • Neural-Thyroid Interaction on Skeletal Isomyosin Expression in OG
      • Spatial Orientation of the Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex and Velocity Storage
      • Autonomic Neuroplasticity in Weightlessness
    • Extended Duration Orbiter pallet
    • Two Get Away Special beams with canisters G-197, G-467, G-772 (Colorado's COLLIDE experiment, which collided small particles into each other to simulate the formation of planets and rings).

    The Neurolab mission was managed by NASA-Johnson at Houston, unlike earlier Spacelab flights which were NASA-Marshall/Huntsville's responsibility. Landed at Kennedy Space Center May 3 1998.

1998 May 3

2007 August 8

22:36 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39A. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle.
  • STS-118 - . Call Sign: Endeavour. Crew: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Payload: Endeavour F20 / S5, Spacehab. Mass: 121,823 kg (268,573 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Caldwell, Drew, Hobaugh, Kelly, Scott, Mastracchio, Morgan, Williams, Dave. Agency: NASA. Program: ISS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: Soyuz TMA-10, STS-117 ISS EO-15, STS-118. Spacecraft Bus: Shuttle. Spacecraft: Endeavour. Duration: 12.75 days. Decay Date: 2007-08-21 . USAF Sat Cat: 32008 . COSPAR: 2007-035A. Apogee: 348 km (216 mi). Perigee: 337 km (209 mi). Inclination: 51.60 deg. Period: 91.40 min.

    Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on Aug 8 at 2236 UTC. The STS-118 stack comprised Orbiter OV-105, solid rockets RSRM-97 and external tank ET-117. The solid boosters separated 2 min after launch. At 2245 UTC the orbiter main engines cut off and ET-117 separated into an approximately 57 x 225 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The OMS-2 burn at 2313 UTC put Endeavour in a higher 229 x 317 km orbit as the ET fell back to reentry around 2346 UTC.

    During ascent a large chunk of external tank foam was observed to hit the underside of the orbiter. Examination in orbit using the robotic arm showed a hole in a heat shield tile that went down to the felt mounting pad. There was considerable press discussion of the danger, but as the mission drew to a close NASA decided that no lasting damage would be incurred during reentry to the orbiter structure, and called off a potential extra spacewalk to repair the tile.

    Endeavour docked at the PMA-2 adapter on the Station at 18:02 GMT on 10 August; the hatches were opened at 20:04.

    The 14036 kg of cargo broke down as follows:

    • Bay 1-2: Orbiter Docking System, 1800 kg
    • Bay 1-2: EMU 3010, 130 kg
    • Bay 1-2: EMU 3017, 130 kg
    • Bay 3: Tunnel Adapter, 112 kg
    • Bay 5-7: Spacehab-SM Single Module, 5480 kg: Loaded with research experimental equipment and consumables to be left at the station.
    • Bay 8P: SPDU: Station Power Distribution Unit, will be left at the ISS and allow the Orbiter to draw electricity from the station while docked, allowing longer missions
    • Bay 8-10: S5 Truss, 1584 kg: a short spacer truss installed at the end of the ISS S4 truss during the mission, to eliminate interference with the S6 solar panels when they would be added later
    • Bay 11-12: ESP-3, 3400 kg: External Stowage Platform 3, left at the ISS, provided external storage for spare parts, and was delivered with a spare nitrogen tank for the truss cooling system, a spare truss battery charge/discharge unit (BCDU), a spare Canadarm-2 robot arm pitch roll joint, and a replacement Control Moment Gyro for the Z1 truss
    • Bay 11-12: CMG-3R ORU, 540 kg
    • Sill: OBSS, 450 kg
    • Sill: RMS 201, 410 kg
    The shuttle's RMS 201 robotic arm moved the S5 truss from the payload bay at 20:50 on 10 August. It was handed over to the station's Canadarm-2 robotic arm, which then attached it to the S4 truss at 17:30 on 11 August, with astronauts assisting on the first of four spacewalks of the mission. On 14 August, ESP-3 was unberthed from Endeavour's payload bay and attached to the P3 truss on the Station, where its spare parts can be reached if needed.

    Following successful completion of all cargo delivery and station assembly tasks, the crew returned to Endeavour on 18 August, undocking the next day at 11:56 GMT. Landing was moved up a day ahead of schedule because of concern a hurricane might force evacuation of the Houston Control Center on the originally-planned return date. Endeavour began its deorbit burn at 15:25 GMT on August 21 and lowered its orbit from 336 x 347 km to -28 x 342 km. It landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 16:32 GMT. Landing mass was 100,878 kg.

2007 August 11

16:28 GMT - .

2007 August 13

15:32 GMT - .

2007 August 18

14:17 GMT - .

2007 August 21

16:32 GMT - .

2007 November 16

2007 December 18

2007 December 20

2007 December 21

2007 December 24

2007 December 29

2008 January 1

2008 January 2

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/02/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-120 ISS EO-16.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 3

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/03/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-120 ISS EO-16.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 4

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/04/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 5

2008 January 8

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/08/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-120 ISS EO-16, STS-122.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 9

2008 January 11

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/11/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11, STS-120 ISS EO-16, STS-122.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 12

2008 January 14

2008 January 15

2008 January 16

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/16/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 20

2008 January 22

  • ISS On-Orbit Status 01/22/08 - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Love, Malenchenko, Tani, Whitson, Williams, Dave. Program: ISS. Flight: Soyuz TMA-11.

    CDR Whitson and FE-2 Tani started out with the daily reading of SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure during Spaceflight) experiment data accumulated during the night, for logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the SLEEP session file on the HRF-1 laptop for downlink. Additional Details: here....

2008 January 23

2008 January 26

2008 January 27

2008 February 3

2008 February 9

2008 February 18

2008 June 21