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Steven Patrick Chappell (born 1969/1970) is an American aerospace engineer. He is a Technical Lead & Research Specialist for Wyle Integrated Science & Engineering at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. He is helping to define and execute the research needed to optimize human performance in next-generation and extra-vehicular activity (EVA) systems. Chappell served as an aquanaut on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 14 () crew.
Chappell's intent upon returning to college was to become a medical doctor specializing in aerospace medicine and he began taking classes to make that possible, but being a climber led him to learn about Rocky Mountain Rescue Group based in Boulder, CO. He became a member of the all-volunteer team, one of the busiest in the country, and quickly became active performing technical rock, snow, and ice rescue missions. Over time, his involvement on the mountain rescue team fed his interest in helping people while doing something he loved and he changed his educational course to pursue bioastronautics-related graduate degrees, studying how humans perform in the harsh environment of space.
Chappell earned masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder (M.S., Aerospace Engineering, 2003; PhD, 2006), studying human performance in simulated Moon and Mars gravity. His PhD thesis was on "Analysis of Planetary Exploration Spacesuit Systems and Evaluation of a Modified Partial-Gravity Simulation Technique". While he was performing his graduate research, he worked as one of the lead developing and launching a satellite to study cloud formation in the upper atmosphere. Also during this time, his passion for rescue led him to become the operational leader of his mountain rescue team. He has taken part in more than 350 rescue missions and also climbed many high peaks in Colorado and on international expeditions. Along the way, he attained multiple Scuba diving certifications and made dives in exotic locations around the world.
Chappell worked for FAAC Incorporated as a simulation engineer from 1992 to 1996, for Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer from 1997 to 2000, and for Global Commerce Systems as an engineering manager from 2000 to 2001. From 2002 to 2008 he was a mission systems engineer for the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Space Physics.
Chappell was a NASA astronaut candidate interviewee in 2009. In May 2010, Chappell became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. Prior to the mission, Chappell was quoted as saying that he "is looking forward to working as a team with the other crewmembers during NEEMO 14 to help NASA take the next steps to push forward the frontier of space exploration."
Although Chappell works at JSC, much of his time is spent working remotely from near Boulder. He remains active with Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, having served as its operations director from 2006 to 2008 and as the president of its executive board from 2010 to 2012, and again as operations director from 2013 to the present. Chappell also enjoys running, canyoneering, reading, and painting. Chappell served as deputy mission manager for the mission in October 2011. During the mission in June 2012, Chappell served as the technical director for the near-Earth asteroid exploration EVA objectives, as an In-Water Test Director, and piloted a DeepWorker submersible.
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