New London, Conn. – Astronaut Candidate Andre Douglas ‘08 is in the final stretch of more than two years of training to earn his wings from NASA and become eligible for spaceflight. Douglas will join two other CGA alums who served as astronauts, Bruce Melnick ’72 and Daniel Burbank ’85 who is currently a Professor of Practice in the Mechanical Engineering program at the Academy.
Douglas graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and served in the Coast Guard as a naval architect, salvage engineer, damage control assistant, and officer of the deck. After leaving the service he worked as a senior staff member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Md., working on maritime robotics, planetary defense, and space exploration missions for NASA.
Douglas earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and a doctorate in Systems Engineering from the George Washington University in Washington.
Astronaut candidates complete training in spacewalking, robotics, space station systems, and a variety of other subjects. Future NASA missions include assignments to the International Space Station, future commercial destinations, missions to the Moon, and eventually, missions to Mars. NASA will honor the next generation of astronaut candidates March 5 at 10:30 a.m. EST, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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