George D. Zamka
NASA Astronaut
Status	Active
Born	June 29, 1962 (1962-06-29) (age 47) Jersey City, New Jersey
Other occupation	Test Pilot
Rank	Colonel, USMC
Time in space	15 days, 2 hours, 23 minutes
Selection	1998 NASA Group
Missions	STS-120
Mission insignia

George David Zamka (born 1962) is a NASA astronaut of Colombian^[1][2] and Polish ancestry^[3] who piloted the Space Shuttle Discovery in its October 2007 mission to the International Space Station. Zamka is a United States Marine Corps pilot with over 3500 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

[edit] Personal

George David Zamka was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1962. He was raised in New York City; Irvington, New York; Medellín, Colombia, his mother's hometown;^[4] and Rochester Hills, Michigan. He graduated from Rochester Adams High School in Michigan in 1980.

Zamka is married and has two children. His extended family resides in Colorado, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee.

[edit] Military career

Zamka graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy in 1984. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in May 1984. He received A-6E Intruder training at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington in 1988-1987. He was assigned to VMA(AW)-242 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California. In addition to flight safety and administration, he was a Squadron Weapons and Tactics instructor. In 1990, he trained as an F/A-18D Hornet pilot and was then assigned to VMFA(AW)-121. Zamka flew 66 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. In 1993, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California as a forward air controller. In December 1994, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, following which, he served as an F/A-18 Hornet test pilot and operations officer.

In 1997, he earned a Masters of Science degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. In 1998, he returned to VMFA(AW)-121 and deployed to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan.

[edit] NASA career

In June 1998, Zamka was selected for the NASA astronaut program, and reported for training in August. He served as lead for the shuttle training and procedures division and as supervisor for the astronaut candidate class of 2004. Zamka made his first spaceflight as the pilot of mission STS-120, and will be the commander for STS-130.

[edit] Awards and honors

Zamka has received the following honors and awards: Navy Strike Air Medal (6), Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, and various other military service and campaign awards. Distinguished Graduate, United States Naval Academy. Commodore’s list and Academic Achievement Award, Training Air Wing Five. Received three NASA Superior Accomplishment Awards.

[edit] See also

United States Marine Corps portal

[edit] References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a U.S. government agency.

• Astronaut Bio: George D. Zamka, NASA, June 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
• NASA Appoints Crew for Space Station Mission, UPI, 2006-06-20. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
• Spacefacts biography of George D. Zamka