Astronaut to present award to Conrad Industries

Capt. Stephen G. Bowen, the first submarine officer selected by NASA as a mission specialist, will be in Morgan City Thursday to present the Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award to Conrad Shipyard.
Conrad Deepwater in Amelia is refurbishing NASA’s Pegasus barge, which throughout the space shuttle era ferried shuttle external tanks and other hardware from NASA’s manufacturing site in New Orleans to its Florida launch facilities.
The $8.5 million contract to retrofit the barge will allow it to transport rocket components for NASA’s next-generation space launch system between manufacturing, testing and launch locations as part of NASA’s efforts to send humans to deep space.
According to NASA’s website, the Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award recognizes significant, outstanding individual or team contributions related to the prevention of anything that could lead to a catastrophic mishap to the vehicle, crew or mission.
Bowen is a Cohasset, Massachusetts, native who attended the U.S. Naval Academy and received a master of science in ocean engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in 1993.
Upon completion of the submarine training pipeline Bowen spent three years attached to USS Parche and completed qualification in submarines on USS Pogy.
After obtaining his master’s degree, he reported to USS Augusta for duty as the engineering officer. During this tour, Bowen qualified for command of nuclear powered submarines.
After several other assignments, Bowen became the first submarine officer selected by NASA as a mission specialist in July 2000.
Following two years of training at Johnson Space Center, he was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch.
Bowen is a veteran of three spaceflights: STS-126 in 2008 aboard Endeavour; STS-132 on Atlantis in 2010; and STS-133 in 2011, the final mission for the Space Shuttle Discovery.
He logged a total of 40 days, 10 hours, 4 minutes and 37 seconds in space. That includes 47 hours and 18 minutes of extravehicular activity in seven spacewalks.
Bowen received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy Commendation medals, two Navy Achievement medals and other service awards.
The Pegasus — 260 feet long, 50 feet wide and 15 feet high — was housed at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, before being dry docked at Conrad during the repair and retrofitting operations. It was built in 2002 and is the only barge of its kind in NASA’s inventory.
“Pegasus made it possible for NASA to deliver numerous groundbreaking science missions to orbit and complete construction of the International Space Station,” said Robert Rutherford, group lead for the Transportation and Logistics Engineering Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
To manage new hardware and components dramatically larger than space shuttle propulsion elements, Conrad Shipyard is tasked with lengthening the barge from 260 feet to 310 feet. The company also will perform all necessary maintenance and refurbishment to ensure the restored vessel meets American Bureau of Shipping standards.
Work is expected to be complete in February 2015.