Roger Keith Crouch (born September 12, 1940) is an American scientist and

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

who flew as a

payload specialist A payload specialist (PS) was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission. People assigned as payload specialists included individuals selected by t ...

on two

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

missions in 1997.

Personal

Born September 12, 1940, in

Jamestown, Tennessee Jamestown is a city in and the county seat of Fentress County, Tennessee, Fentress County, Tennessee, United States. The population of the city was 1,959 at the 2010 census. History Jamestown was established in 1823 as a county seat for Fentress ...

, Crouch currently resides in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, with his wife, the former Anne Novotny. He has three grown children, Melanie, Kevin and Kenyon. His mother, Maxine Crouch, resides in Jamestown, Tennessee. He enjoys

traveling Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

and

whitewater rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

. Crouch is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

Education

Crouch attended high school at Alvin C. York Institute. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute in 1962,

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

of Science and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in physics from

Virginia Polytechnic Institute The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in 1968 and 1971, respectively.

Career

On loan from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

NASA Headquarters The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building at 300 E Street SW in Washington, D.C. houses NASA leadership who provide overall guidance and direction to the US government executive branch agency NASA, under the leadership of the NASA administ ...

as the Senior Scientist for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

since 2000; prior to that, on loan from MIT as the Senior Scientist for the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences, NASA-HQ, 1998–2000; crew training, flight and post-flight activities 1996–1998; Lead Scientist of the Microgravity Space and Applications Division since 1985–1996. He served as Program Scientist on five different

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

flights. In addition, he helped organize and has served as co-chair for Microgravity Science Working Groups between NASA and

space agencies Government space agencies, established by the governments of countries and regional agencies (groupings of countries) are established as a means for advocating for engaging in activities related to outer space, exploitation of space systems, ...

from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia. He was the founding co-chair of the International Microgravity Science Strategic Planning Group consisting of these space agencies plus Canada. He was principal investigator on an experiment that flew in the Materials Experiment Apparatus on the D-1 mission in 1985. Group leader and researcher, NASA

Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay front of Langley Air Force Base, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. LaRC has focused primarily on aeronautical research but has also ...

, 1962–1985. Leader of a research group investigating the effects of

convection Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

materials' properties. He was a principal investigator in the

MSAD MSAD may refer to: * Microsoft Active Directory, a component of Microsoft Windows that provides distributed user management and authentication * Maine School Administrative District are school districts in Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, s ...

flight program from 1986 to 1997. He has done research in various techniques and types of semiconductor crystal growth,

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...

properties of materials, electronic devices for remote sensing and

flat panel display A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment. Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better ...

s, and

heat shield In engineering, a heat shield is a component designed to protect an object or a human operator from being burnt or overheated by dissipating, reflecting, and/or absorbing heat. The term is most often used in reference to exhaust heat management a ...

protection for

atmospheric reentry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

of space vehicles. This research resulted in the publication of over 40 technical paper and over 50 technical conference reports. He trained as the Alternate Payload Specialist for

STS-42 STS-42 was a NASA Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery'' mission with the Spacelab module. Liftoff was originally scheduled for 8:45 Eastern Time Zone, EST (13:45 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC) on January 22, 1992, but the launc ...

( First International Microgravity Laboratory) which flew in January 1992.

Spaceflight experience

Flew as a payload specialist on STS-83 (April 4–8, 1997) and STS-94 (July 1–17, 1997) and logged over 471 hours in space. STS-83, the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission, was cut short because of problems with one of the Shuttle’s fuel cell power units. Mission duration was 95 hours and 12 minutes, traveling 1.5 million miles in 63 orbits. STS-94 was a reflight of the MSL-1 and focused on materials and combustion science research. Mission duration was 376 hours and 45 minutes, traveling 6.3 million miles in 251 orbits of the Earth.

Special honors and organizations

Distinguished Alumni Achievement,

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

, 1998; Distinguished Alumnus 1997,

Tennessee Technological University Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a Public university, public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of D ...

; NASA Exceptional Performance Award, 1989; NASA Special Achievement Award, 1983; Certificates for Patents/applications 1975, 85, 86, 87; Certificates for innovative technology 1973, 76, 79, 80, 81, 85, 86, 87; Floyd Thompson Fellowship 1979–80. Member of

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, American Association for Crystal Growth, Sigma Pi Sigma,

Kappa Mu Epsilon Kappa Mu Epsilon () is an American mathematics honor society. It was founded by Emily Kathryn Wyant in 1931 at Northeastern Oklahoma State Teachers College to focus on the needs of undergraduate mathematics students. There are now over 80,000 ...

Pi Kappa Phi Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on De ...

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Roger K. Crouch
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crouch, Roger K. 1940 births Living people People from Jamestown, Tennessee Virginia Tech alumni NASA civilian astronauts Space Shuttle program astronauts Tennessee Technological University alumni