NASA Biographical Data


Scott D. Vangen
  • Payload Specialist


    Born December 12, 1959, in Granite Falls, Minnesota. His parents, Orel and Agnes Vangen, are residents of St. Cloud, Minnesota.


    Brown hair; blue eyes; 5 feet 10 inches; 165 pounds.


    Graduated from Granite Falls High School, Granite Falls, Minnesota, in 1978; received a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, 1982; and a masters of science degree in Space Technology from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, 1986.




    His hobbies include music (multi-keyboardist/composition), amateur radio, scuba diving, Nordic/downhill skiing, and soaring.


    Mr. Vangen has been at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with the Payloads Operations and Management Directorate since 1982. He has been an experiment engineer and lead mission engineer for multiple domestic and international space shuttle scientific payloads and experiments. He has had extensive hands-on operations experience with various space flight payloads; particularly astrophysics experiments designed to explore the electromagnetic spectrum from cosmic/x-rays through ultraviolet into the infrared. Mr. Vangen has worked extensively preparing experiments to fly aboard spacelab, a scientific research facility carried in the cargo bay of the space shuttle. He was responsible for integration and testing of experiments manifested on Spacelab-1, Spacelab-2, Spacelab-3, Astro-1, D-1, ATLAS-1, and TSS-1. As an experiment engineer he was responsible for preparing the payload elements for launch, including interface and functional testing, troubleshooting, repair, and support activities for launch and landing. He has also supported multiple space flight missions as a member of the experiment science teams for on-orbit operations at the Payload Operations Control Centers located at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, and the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. Until 1990, he was the lead electrical engineer for the Payload Checkout Unit, the major checkout system used for spacelab testing during experiment integration and checkout. His two most recent assignments, as the space station experiment integration lead electrical engineer and avionics lead, continued his involvement in payload operations as the Kennedy Space Center prepares for the next generation of space science technology, experiments, and payloads.


    Mr. Vangen is in flight training as an alternate payload specialist on the crew of STS-67/Astro-2, a spacelab ultraviolet astronomy mission scheduled for January 1995. Payload specialists are normally career scientists and engineers selected for their knowledge of a particular payload. Mr. Vangen's experience with the Astro-1 payload and his contributions to the mission's success contributed to his selection in May of 1993 as the alternate payload specialist for Astro-2.

    MAY 1994