Dr. N. Jan Davis of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.,
will be inducted into the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame on Friday.
Ceremonies begin at 7 p.m. at the Huntsville Marriott.
As director of the Flight Projects Directorate at the Marshall Center, Davis
oversees development of the International Space Station’s connecting nodes 2
and 3; multi-purpose logistics modules; commercial EXPRESS Racks; and
environmental and life-support systems. Davis also oversees the Payload
Operations Center — the Space Station science command post at the Marshall
Center that links Earth-bound researchers around the world with the Station.
Her directorate also works closely with the Boeing Co. as it builds and
tests structural elements and truss segments of the Space Station.
Davis began her career at Marshall in 1979, leading a team responsible for
structural analysis and verification of the Hubble Space Telescope, the
telescope servicing mission and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. She also was
lead engineer for the redesign of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
External Tank attach ring.
Selected to join the Astronaut Corps in 1987, Davis flew on three Space
Shuttle missions – STS-47 in 1992, STS-60 in 1994 and STS-85 in 1997. Prior
to her Shuttle flights, Davis served as the capsule communicator with
Shuttle crews from the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in
Houston. Before returning to Marshall, Davis was director of the Human
Exploration and Development of Space Independent Assurance Office at NASA
Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The owner of one patent, Davis is a Registered Professional Engineer and has
been awarded NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Service Medal,
and three Space Flight Medals, as well as the Marshall Space Flight Center
Director’s Commendation. She was recently inducted into the Alabama
Engineering Hall of Fame. As a winner of the Alpha Xi Delta Woman of
Distinction Award, she also was recently named to the University of Alabama
in Huntsville Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy. She is an ASME
Fellow — the highest distinction bestowed by the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers.
Davis, a 1971 graduate of Huntsville High School in Huntsville, Ala., earned
a bachelor’s degree in applied biology at the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering
from Auburn University in Auburn, Ala. She earned her master’s and doctoral
degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama in
Huntsville.
The Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the Southern Museum of Flight in
Birmingham, Ala., and features plaques honoring people who made important
contributions to Alabama or national aviation history. Established in 1979
by the Alabama Legislature, the Hall of Fame’s state-appointed board selects
inductees every two years.
