Twitpics From Space By Douglas H. Wheelock

A dual-rated Master Army Aviator; he has logged over 2500 flight hours in 43 different rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.
Wheelock was assigned to the NASA Johnson Space Center in August 1996 as a Space Shuttle integration test engineer. His technical duties involved engineering liaison for launch and landing operations of the Space Shuttle. He was selected as the vehicle integration test team lead for the joint Space Shuttle and Russian Space Station MIR mission STS-86, and lead engineer for International Space Station (ISS) hardware fit checks.
Wheelock reported for NASA Astronaut Candidate Training in August 1998. Having completed the initial two years of intensive Space Shuttle and Space Station training, he was assigned to the Astronaut Office ISS Operations Branch as a Russian Liaison, participating in the testing and integration of Russian hardware and software products developed for the ISS. He worked extensively with the Energia Aerospace Company in Moscow, Russia, developing and verifying dual-language procedures for ISS crews. Wheelock led joint U.S./Russian teams to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to oversee bench reviews, inventory, loading and launch of the first four unmanned ISS resupply capsules.