David Ballinger

David Ballinger is an airline transport helicopter pilot holding a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration on Global Aviation Management.

An Air Force veteran, David served 14 years as a combat aviator on international operations globally. He has flown both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, amassing over 1800 hours on gliders, piston-engine light aircraft, single-engine jets, multi-engine transports, and 10 types of helicopters. An aspiring astronaut for as long as he can remember, David’s passion for aviation is only exceeded by his desire to fly in space.

David served as the Chief Astronaut for an entry in the Ansari X-Prize sub-orbital commercial spaceflight competition from 2003 to 2005, and developed a comprehensive Astronaut Training Program for civilian astronauts as his Master of Arts Organizational Consulting Project.

David has extensive experience in aviation and aerospace human factors, flight safety, and organizational leadership and training. David also holds a Diploma in Hydrographic Surveying, speaks French, and has worked in over 30 countries from the tropics to the high Arctic. He has completed land, sea, jungle and Arctic survival training, and is a qualified SCUBA diver.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A4H Flight Member Makes it to Top 72 Candidates in Canadian Astronaut Selection Process

Image
We would like to congratulate Dr. Aaron Persad, a Flight Member of A4H, for becoming one of top 72 candidates in the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut selection campaign.   Well-done Aaron!   He is a tremendous asset to A4H.  Aaron set up a collaboration between our organization and students in the University of Toronto’s Department of Mechanical Engineering to develop a microgravity test bed.  It is designed to run experiments in parabolic flight, especially those involving fluids.    Another project he was instrumental in conceiving is that of a physical model of a bone cell to be tested in weightlessness.   Currently, Aaron is completing his post-doctoral fellowship in the Sinton Lab at the University of Toronto. All of us at A4H wish him good luck during the next phase of the selection process.   We hope he will achieve his goal of becoming one of Canada's next astronauts.
Read more

Secret Space Escapes: Soyeon Yi interview

Image
Space is a dangerous place. Astronauts are trained to respond to and overcome challenges that they encounter on their missions. Some of these near disasters are featured in the TV series Secret Space Escapes , which continues on the Science Channel. A4H's Victoria Varone sat down with astronauts Linger, Curbeam, and Yi during their recent appearance at New York Comic Con . Here, we've posted her interview with astronaut Soyeon Yi . They discussed Yi's rough return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule after her mission to the ISS in 2008. Scroll down to read the whole interview but first check out this video on how she became Korea's first astronaut at the young age of 29!. Meet Soyeon Yi: Korea's First Astronaut! from GoodNeighbors on Vimeo . A4H: So, this panel’s about disasters in space. Have you experienced any mishaps in space? SY: We had a ballistic reentry because we had a problem during the separation of our capsule. Some part of the habitation module was stil...
Read more

A4H Member to Participate in Poland Mars Analogue Simulation 2017

Image
One of our own A4H members, Iñigo Muñoz Elorza, will be participating in the upcoming Poland Mars Analog Simulation 2017, organized by the Space Generation Advisory Council's (SGAC) Space Exploration Project Group (SEPG), who is currently raising funds for the mission on Indiegogo . It will be a two-week mission where a crew of six analogue astronauts will conduct and record their experiences and scientific research in the newly built the M.A.R.S. Laboratory habitat near Rzepiennik Biskupi, Poland. The mission will be complete with a time-delayed link with the offices of ABM Space in Torun, Poland, where 30 international students and young professionals will act as the Flight Support Team (FST) in the PMAS 2017 Mission Support Centre (MSC). The mission will also include a 3-day lunar simulation in partnership with ESA  to mimic the potential future plans of not only returning to the Moon alone, but using a Moon base as testbed for future Mars exploration. Sebastian He...
Read more