Karen Nyberg gets second trip to the International Space Station UND alumna and astronaut Karen Nyberg has been assigned to the crew of space shuttle mission STS-132, targeted for launch in April 2010. STS-132 will deliver the Russian-built Mini Research Module (MRM1) to the International Space Station (ISS). Navy Captain Ken Ham will command the shuttle Atlantis for this 11-day mission. Navy Cmdr. Tony Antonelli will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Navy Capt. Steve Bowen, Nyberg, Garrett Reisman, and Piers Sellers. STS-132 will be the second spaceflight for Nyberg, who served as a mission specialist on STS-124 in May 2008. Nyberg is a 1994 summa cum laude UND mechanical engineering grad and was selected to be a NASA mission specialist in 2000. Nyberg, who also holds a doctorate and a master's degree from the University of Texas in mechanical engineering, earned top UND honors in addition to her academic achievement, including the School of Engineering and Mines Meritorious Service Award for 1991-92 and the Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2004. On her first shuttle mission, Nyberg and her six colleagues delivered and installed the Japanese Pressurized Module, nicknamed “Kibo,” to the ISS. She was the first person to operate all three ISS robotic arms while conducting experiments. Nyberg was born in October 1969 in Parkers Prairie, Minn. After graduating as valedictorian at Henning High, near Vining, Minn., she went to UND. She completed graduate space suit research at the University of Texas at Austin. While at UND, she was selected as a cooperative education intern with NASA. After completing her doctorate in 1998, Nyberg began working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in crew and thermal systems. She was selected as a mission specialist by NASA in 2000 and worked in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch. -- Juan Pedraza, University Relations, 777-6571, juanpedraza@mail.und.edu