• DVM360_Conference_Charlotte,NC_banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Strolling amid the stars

April 1, 2008
James M. Lewis

Veterinarian Richard M. Linnehan went out for a walk the other evening. Make that way, way out -- as in outer space, 200 miles above the Earth. Better known to the world as a veteran astronaut than a DVM, Linnehan was the lead spacewalker on the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour in March. Photo: Courtesy of NASA

Veterinarian Richard M. Linnehan went out for a walk the other evening.

Make that way, way out — as in outer space, 200 miles above the Earth.

Better known to the world as a veteran astronaut than a DVM, Linnehan was the lead spacewalker on the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour's March journey to the International Space Station. The seven-man crew lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 11 to begin a 16-day mission, the second longest ever (Columbia's 1996 journey was one day longer). Endeavour was scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center on March 26.

Advertisement

This was Linnehan's fourth space flight. He flew his first space mission in 1996 and serviced the Hubble Space Telescope on his last flight in 2002.

During one of five spacewalks on this Endeavour mission, Linnehan and rookie Robert Behnken spent seven hours outfitting the space station's newly installed, 12-foot-tall Canadian-built robot, dubbed Dextre," with a set of tools and two cameras that will serve as eyes for the $209 million device so it can perform various future chores outside the orbiting station. Astronauts installed two 11-foot arms on Dextre during an earlier spacewalk.

Linnehan is "the Yoda of spacewalkers," says Endeavour pilot Gregory H. Johnson.

In the fourth of the five spacewalks, Behnken and astronaut Mike Foreman tested a high-tech caulk gun to see whether it and the substance inside it can be an effective means of repairing damaged heat shields on future shuttle flights, preventing the sort of heat-shield problem that caused the shuttle Columbia to disintegrate in 2003, killing the seven-member team.

The astronauts also dropped off and set up a storage compartment for a Japanese lab complex, named Kibo, that will arrive at the space station in May.

Linnehan, of Lowell, Mass., served as chief clinical veterinarian for the Navy's Marine Mammal Program in San Diego before completing astronaut training in 1992. He received his DVM degree from The Ohio State University in 1985 and is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and International Association of Aquatic Animal Medicine. He is 50 and single.


Advertisement

Latest News

Kentucky Humane Society with Louisville Metro Animal Services to host mega adoption event

San Diego Zoo celebrates Andean bear cub twins

Spring’s pet toxins have sprung

IBPSA and Zoundz Music for Pets team up to reduce pet anxiety in pet care facilities

View More Latest News
Advertisement