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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Scully-Power | 1/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Scully-Power | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:22:16.223381+00:00 | kb-cron |
Paul Desmond Scully-Power, AM GOSE FRAeS (born May 28, 1944) is an Australian-born American oceanographer, technology expert, business executive and astronaut. In 1984, while a civilian employee of the United States Naval Undersea Warfare Center, he flew aboard NASA Space Shuttle mission STS-41-G as a Payload Specialist. He was the first Australian-born person to journey into space, and the first astronaut with a beard. During his time in space he was able to confirm the existence of spiral eddies, and observe them with the naked eye. Scully-Power went on to work in private industry. He is considered a world expert in remote sensing: visible, infra-red, radar and acoustic and is considered a security, aviation and aerospace expert. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours "for service to science in the fields of oceanography and space remote sensing, and to the community through contributions to a range of government regulatory agencies and through raising public awareness of conservation issues."
== Early life and education == Paul Scully-Power was born in Sydney, Australia. He attended schools in London, and Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview and St Pius X College, Chatswood, in Sydney. He studied applied mathematics at the University of Sydney, where he resided at St John's College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 1966 and a Diploma of Education in 1967.
== Career == In January 1967, after graduating from the University of Sydney, Scully-Power was approached by the Royal Australian Navy to set up the first oceanographic group within the Navy. From January 1967 to July 1972 he was a Scientific officer, and remained the first permanent head of the oceanographic group. From July 1972 to March 1974 he was an Australian Navy Exchange Scientist, U.S. Navy. He also worked at the U.S. Naval Underwater Systems Center, New London, Connecticut, and at the Office of Naval Research, Washington, D.C. During this period, he was invited to assist the Earth Observations team on the Skylab Project and has worked in space oceanography for each crewed spacecraft mission since that time. From March 1974 to March 1975 he returned to Australia, planned and executed the joint Australia, New Zealand, United States project ANZUS EDDY, which was the first combined oceanographic and acoustic measurement of an ocean eddy ever conducted. In 1976, he was appointed a foreign principal investigator for the Heat Capacity Mapping Mission, which was one of a series of satellites launched by NASA to explore the usefulness of remote sensing measurements. In October 1977, he emigrated to the United States and was offered a position at the Naval Underwater Systems Center. This position is that of a senior scientist and technical specialist on the staff of the Associate Technical Director for Research and Technology with the responsibility to insure the development of a comprehensive and balanced technology base within the Center. He became a U.S. citizen in 1982.
=== NASA career === In June 1984, Scully-Power was chosen by NASA to be a Payload Specialist (known among the crew affectionately as a blanket counter) on the 13th Shuttle mission, which would study Earth Sciences. His space flight STS-41-G Challenger (October 5–13, 1984) was launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-41-G was the first mission with a 7-person crew, and the first to demonstrate American orbital fuel transfer. During the 8-day flight, the crew deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the earth with the OSTA-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, and demonstrated potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. At mission conclusion, Scully-Power had traveled over 3.4 million miles in 133 Earth orbits, and logged over 197 hours in space. His role was to investigate spiral eddies, which at the time were thought to be rare. He was able to photograph them with an ordinary camera, and show that they were ubiquitous. NASA initially expected him to shave his beard before spaceflight, but allowed it after he was able to demonstrate that it did not affect his helmet's seal.