May 23, 2001

Doug Peterson
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
281.483.5111

Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
281.483.5111

Release: J01-54

NASA Astronaut Injured in Private Plane Accident

NASA Astronaut Patricia Hilliard Robertson (MD) was injured in a private plane accident Tuesday afternoon. She was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital where her condition remains stable, but critical.

Robertson is a member of the Astronaut class of 1998 and currently is assigned as a crew support astronaut for the Expedition Two crew presently on board the International Space Station. While awaiting a spaceflight assignment, she serves as an interface between the Mission Control Flight Control Team and the Astronaut Office on issues related to the Expedition Two crew and, along with other astronauts, coordinates activities on the ground for the three crewmembers in space.

She joined NASA’s Flight Medicine Clinic at the Johnson Space Center in 1997 prior to being selected to be an astronaut. In addition to being a medical doctor, Robertson is a multiengine rated flight instructor with more than 1,500 hours of flight time.

For more biographical details on Robertson and other astronauts, visit the following website:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/

text-only version of this release