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Astronaut Brent Jett participated in the Phase 1 Program as the pilot of STS-81 and as a Director of Operations (DOR) in Russia. Additionally, Jett piloted STS-72 and STS-81, which was the fifth Shuttle-Mir docking.
As DOR, he was responsible for the coordination and implementation of Phase 1 mission operations activities between Russia and NASA, managing a vital support system office in Star City, Russia.
In his Oral History, Jett spoke about the importance of cultural understanding: "As a DOR, . . you would occasionally get in situations, and usually they were social type of situations where you would not have an interpreter with you. . . so you needed to be able to follow a conversation, at least get the gist of what people are saying. As the NASA representative, in many cases you'd be the only NASA person there, and you would be called on or asked to say a few words, you know, a toast or something like that. So it's important that you be able to be at least that proficient in Russian, and I kind of was told that. Mike Baker, having been my commander on 81 [STS-81], having been a DOR previously, he gave me a lot of good advice about where to concentrate my Russian language studies. So that's what I did."
He was selected as an astronaut in 1992. Prior to his NASA career, Jett was a naval aviator in the U.S. Navy, and he attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School (Topgun). Jett earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Related Links:
NASA Biography:
Brent Jett
Brent
Jett Oral History (PDF)
Brent
Jett video (15 sec.) MPEG (1.1M) (No Audio)
U.S. Mir Residents | Astronauts | Cosmonauts | Teams | Oral Histories | Shuttle-Mir Stories
Curator:
Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty