Timothy L. Kopra
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Timothy L. Korpa is a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and a NASA Astronaut.
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[edit] Personal data
Korpa was born on April 9, 1963, in Austin, Texas. He is married to the former Dawn Kaye Lehman of Lewisburg, Kentucky. They have two children. He enjoys running, swimming, and biking. His mother, Martha A. Kopra, resides in Austin, Texas. His father, Dr. Lennart L. Kopra, is deceased. Dawn’s parents, Charles B. and Betty H. Lehman, reside in Lewisburg, Kentucky.
[edit] Education
- McCallum High School, Austin, Texas, 1981.
- Bachelor of Science, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 1985.
- Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1995.
[edit] Organizations
- Society of Experimental Test Pilots;
- Army Aviation Association of America;
- American Helicopter Society;
- United States Military Academy Association of Graduates;
- West Point Society of Greater Houston;
- Phi Kappa Phi.
[edit] Special honors
- Empire Test Pilot School Award for the best Developmental Test thesis, Class 110, U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (1996),
- Bronze Order of Saint Michael, Army Aviation Award (1999),
- Awarded the Bronze Star Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and various other service awards.
[edit] Experience
Kopra received his commission as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy in May 1985 and was designated as an Army aviator in August 1986. He then completed a three-year assignment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he served as an aeroscout platoon leader, troop executive officer, and squadron adjutant in the 101st Airborne Division’s air cavalry squadron. In 1990, he was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Hanau, Germany, and was deployed to Southwest Asia where he served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He completed his tour in Germany as an attack helicopter company commander and an operations officer. After returning to the United States and completing graduate studies at Georgia Tech, he was selected in 1995 to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center, where he worked as an experimental test pilot on various projects and served as the developmental test director for the Comanche helicopter program. Other military schools include the Army Parachutist Course, Pathfinder Course, Air Assault Course, the Combined Services Staff School, and the Command and General Staff College.
[edit] NASA experience
Kopra was assigned to NASA at the Johnson Space Center in September 1998 as a vehicle integration test engineer. In this position, he primarily served as an engineering liaison for Space Shuttle launch operations and International Space Station hardware testing. He was actively involved in the contractor tests of the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) interfaces for each of the space station truss segments.
Selected as a mission specialist by NASA in July 2000, Kopra reported for Astronaut Candidate Training the following month. He then completed the initial two years of intensive Space Shuttle and ISS training, scientific and technical briefings, and T-38 flight training. Kopra is currently assigned technical duties in the Space Station Branch of the Astronaut Office, where his primary focus involves the testing of crew interfaces for two future ISS modules as well as the implementation of support computers and operational Local Area Network on ISS.
