About Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper
Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer and former NASA astronaut. She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha. She also became the first Minnesota woman to go into space. We wish her the best of luck back in the Navy – she will be missed." She was awarded two NASA Space Flight Medals, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. Stefanyshyn-Piper flew her first mission on STS-115, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis (launched September 9, 2006, and returned September 21), as a mission specialist and became only the 8th woman to perform a spacewalk (out of 180 total spacewalkers). Stefanyshyn-Piper became the seventh American woman to conduct a spacewalk.
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