John D. Olivas PhD, NASA Astronaut

NASA astronaut John D. Olivas PhD will ride on the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist on the STS-128 mission as it travels to the International Space Station. The launch is scheduled for late August 2009.

Born in North Hollywood, CA, and raised in El Paso, Texas, Olivas decided to become an astronaut at age seven during a family vacation to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. After earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering and materials science from Rice University, he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, as a Program Manager of the JPL Advanced Interconnect and Manufacturing Assurance Program. NASA selected him in 1998.

His full biography from the NASA website:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/olivas.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts128/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts117/interview_olivas.html