NASA Career
Coleman was selected by NASA in 1992 to join the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 1995 she was a member of the STS-73 crew on the scientific mission USML-1 with experiments including biotechnology, combustion science and the physics of fluids. During the flight, she reported to Houston Mission Control that she had spotted an unidentified flying object. She also trained for the mission STS-83 to be the backup for Donald A. Thomas; however, as he recovered on time, she did not fly that mission. STS-93 was Coleman's second space flight in 1999. She was mission specialist in charge of deploying the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its Inertial Upper Stage out of the shuttle's cargo bay.
Coleman served as Chief of Robotics for the Astronaut Office, to include robotic arm operations and training for all Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions. In October 2004, Coleman served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 7 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for eleven days.
Coleman was assigned as a backup U.S. crew member for Expeditions 19, 20 and 21 and served as a backup crewmember for Expeditions 24 and 25 as part of her training for Expedition 26.
Coleman launched on December 15, 2010 (December 16 Baikonur time), aboard Soyuz TMA-20 to join the Expedition 26 mission aboard the International Space Station.
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