NAME:  Marsha S. Ivins
       NASA  Astronaut
 
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE:  Born April 15, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland.  Her
parents, Dr. and Mrs. Joseph L. Ivins, reside in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.
 
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:  Brown hair; hazel eyes; 5 feet 4 inches;  100 pounds.
 
EDUCATION:  Graduated from Nether Providence High School, Wallingford,
Pennsylvania, in 1969;  received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace
engineering from the University of Colorado in 1973.
 
MARITAL STATUS:  Single.
 
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS:  She enjoys flying, reading, baking.
 
ORGANIZATIONS:  Member of the 99's (International Women Pilots Association),
Experimental Aircraft Association, and International Aerobatic Club.
 
NASA EXPERIENCE:  Ms. Ivins has been employed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center since July 1974, and until 1980, was assigned as an engineer, Crew
Station Design Branch, working on Orbiter Displays and Controls and Man Machine
Engineering.  Her major assignment in 1978 was to participate in development of
the Orbiter Head-Up Display (HUD).  In 1980 she was assigned as a flight
simulation engineer on the Shuttle Training Aircraft (Aircraft Operations).
She continued to work on development of the Orbiter HUD, in addition to duties
as a flight test engineer for the Shuttle Training Aircraft. Ms. Ivins also
served as co-pilot in the NASA administrative aircraft (Gulfstream l).
 
Ms. Ivins  holds a multi-engine Airline Transport Pilot License with
Gulfstream-1 type rating, single engine airplane, land, sea, and glider
commercial licenses, and airplane, instrument, and glider flight instructor
ratings.
 
She  has logged over 4,700 hours in civilian and NASA aircraft.
 
She was selected in the NASA Astronaut Class of 1984.  Her technical
assignments to date include:  crew support for Orbiter launch and landing
operations; review of Orbiter safety and reliability issues; crew interface for
Space Station safety and reliability; avionics upgrades to the Orbiter cockpit;
software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL);
Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control; and crew representative for
Orbiter photographic system and procedures.
 
Ms. Ivins was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-32 which launched from
the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 9, 1990.  In the longest Shuttle
mission to date, crew members on board the Orbiter Columbia successfully
deployed a Syncom satellite, and retrieved the 21,400 lb Long Duration Exposure
Facility (LDEF). During the mission Ms. Ivins was responsible for conducting
extensive camera and film tests to evaluate improved equipment and techniques
for on-board Shuttle photography.  Following 173 orbits of the earth in 261
hours, Columbia returned with a night landing at Edwards Air Force Base,
California, on January 20, 1990.  With the completion of her first space
flight, Ms. Ivins has logged a total of 261 hours in space.
 
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:  Ms. Ivins is assigned as a mission specialist on the crew
of STS-46.  This seven-day mission will feature the deployment of the European
Retrievable Carrier (EURECA), an ESA-sponsored free-flying science platform,
and will also demonstrate the Tethered Satellite System (TSS), a joint project
between NASA and the Italian Space Agency.  STS-46 is scheduled for launch in
the summer of 1992,
 
APRIL, 1992