Mary L. Cleave
Mary Louise Cleave (February 5, 1947 – November 27, 2023) was an American engineer and NASA astronaut. She was born in Southampton, New York, grew up in Great Neck, and studied biology and engineering. She earned a BS from Colorado State University in 1969, an MS in Microbial Ecology from Utah State University in 1975, and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Utah State University in 1979. She did research at Utah State on algae and water quality before joining NASA.
Cleave was selected as an astronaut in May 1980. She flew on two Space Shuttle missions: STS-61-B in 1985 and STS-30 in 1989. She spent about 10 days in space, circled Earth 172 times, and traveled about 3.94 million miles. On STS-61-B, the crew deployed satellites and conducted two spacewalks to test construction techniques. On STS-30, they deployed the Magellan Venus spacecraft to map Venus. In 1991 she moved to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to work on SeaWiFS, an ocean color sensor. From 2005 to 2007 she served as NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. She died of a stroke at her home in Annapolis, Maryland, on November 27, 2023, at age 76.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:35 (CET).