Timothy L. Kopra
| Timothy L. Kopra | |
|---|---|
 |
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| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | Finnish -American |
| Status | Active |
| Born |
April 9, 1963 Austin, Texas, U.S. |
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Other names
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Timothy Lennart Kopra |
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Other occupation
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Army aviator |
| Rank |
 Colonel, U.S. Army
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Time in space
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244 days 01 hour 01 minute |
| Selection | 2000 NASA Group 18 |
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Total EVAs
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3 |
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Total EVA time
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13 hours 31 minutes |
| Missions | STS-127, Expedition 20, STS-128, Soyuz TMA-19M (Expedition 46/47) |
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Mission insignia
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Timothy Lennart Kopra (born April 9, 1963) is an engineer, a Colonel in the United States Army, a NASA astronaut, and the former commander of the International Space Station. He served aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, returning to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission on September 11, 2009.
Kopra was born in Austin, Texas. Kopra is married to Dawn Kaye Lehman of Lewisburg, Kentucky, and they have two children, Matthew and Jacqueline. His mother, Martha A. Witthoft Kopra, resides in Austin, Texas. His father, Dr. Lennart L. Kopra, died December 8, 1998. He is of Finnish descent on his father's side. His grandfather, Antti Kopra, born in Laavola, Valkjärvi, Karelia, and his grandmother, Ester Elisabet Saksinen, born in Helsinki, left Finland in 1914, immigrating to the United States. Kopra's father spoke Finnish, but Tim does not speak the language. On his mother's side, Kopra is of German descent. His German ancestors arrived in New York in the colonial period in the 1700s. These ancestors include Johann Philipp and Anna Catharina Finckel, who were members of the first group of Palatine Germans who settled in Germantown in the Hudson Valley in 1710.
Kopra received his commission as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Military Academy in May 1985 and was designated as an Army aviator in August 1986. He then completed a three-year assignment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he served as an aeroscout platoon leader, troop executive officer, and squadron adjutant in the 101st Airborne Division’s air cavalry squadron. In 1990, he was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in Hanau, Germany, and was deployed to the Middle East in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He completed his tour in Germany as an attack helicopter company commander and an operations officer. Kopra retired from the U.S. Army in November 2010.
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