Sunday, October 3, 1999
63. Annual Pulaski Day ParadeHonoring the 30th Anniversary of Man's Walk on the Moon
Scott E. Parazynski, M.D.
NASA AstronautBorn July 28, 1961, in Little Rock, Arkansas. Considers Palo Alto, California, and Evergreen, Colorado, to be his hometowns. Married to the former Gail Marie Vozzella. They have one son.
He enjoys mountaineering, rock climbing, flying, scuba diving, skiing, travel, wood working and nature photography. A commercial, multi-engine, seaplane and instrument-rated pilot, Dr. Parazynski has logged over 1200 flight hours in a variety of aircraft.
Attended junior high school in Dakar, Senegal, and Bejrut, Lebanon. Attended high school at the Tehran American School, Iran, and the American Community School, Athens, Greece, graduating in 1979.
He received a bachelor of science degree in biology from Stanford University in 1983, continuing on to graduate with honors from Stanford Medical School in 1989. He served his medical internship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School (1990). He had completed 22 months of a residency program in emergency medicine in Denver, Colorado when selected to the astronaut corps.
Selected by NASA in March 1992, Dr. Parazynski reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. He completed one year of training and evaluation, and was qualified for future flight assignment as a mission specialist.
Dr. Parazynski initially served as one of the crew representatives for extravehicular activity in the Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch. Following his first flight he was assigned as a backup for the third American long-duration stay aboard Russia's Space Station Mir, and was expected to serve as a prime crew member on a subsequent mission. He served as the Astronaut Office Operations Planning Branch crew representative for Space Shuttle, Space Station and Soyuz training, and was assigned to the Astronaut Office EVA Branch, helping to develop tools and procedures for the assembly of the Intemational Space Station.
A veteran of three space flights, STS-66 in 1994, STS-86 in 1997 and STS-95 in 1998, Dr. Parazynski has logged over 734 hours in space.
Jim Pawelczyk, Ph.D.
James A. (Jim) Pawelczyk received bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology and Psychology from the University of Rochester in 1982, a Master of Science in Physiology from Penn State University in 1985, and a Ph.D. in Biology (Physiology) from the University of North Texas in 1989.
He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 1992, then joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Cardiology and Bioengineering. In that capacity he served as the Director of the Autonomic and Exercise Physiology Laboratories and a founding member of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, a clinical research collaboration between UT Southwestern and Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.
In 1995 he joined the faculty of the Noll Physiological Research Center at Penn State University as an Assistant Professor of Physiology and Kinesiology.
Dr. Pawelczyk's research focuses on the dynamic regulation of blood pressure, and how discuse atrophy affects blood pressure regulation. Problems with moment-to-moment regulation of blood pressure lead to orthostatic intolerance, an inability to maintain adequate blood flow to the brain that affects as many as 500,000 Americans. The condition is routinely observed following spaceflight, which Dr. Pawelczyk has studied as a NASA funded investigator for the past six years.
In 1995 he was selected as a Payload Specialist for the Neurolab space shuttle mission, and flew aboard STS-90 on the space shuttle Columbia in April and May of 1998.
He logged 16 days and 6.4 million miles in space, circling the earth 256 times and conducting neuroscience experiments that addressed changes in the development of the nervous system, blood pressure regulation, sleep, and control movement during spaceflight.