Wikipedia

Serena Auñón-Chancellor

Serena Maria Auñón-Chancellor (born April 9, 1976) is an American physician, engineer, and NASA astronaut.[1][2][3] She visited the International Space Station (ISS) during Expedition 56/57. After returning, she transitioned to a management role within NASA, where she handles medical issues aboard the station.

Serena Auñón-Chancellor
Auñón-Chancellor in 2015
Born
Serena Maria Auñón

(1976-04-09) April 9, 1976 (age 50)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Education
SpouseJeff Chancellor
Space career
NASA astronaut
Time in space
196 days, 17 hours, 49 minutes
SelectionNASA Group 20 (2009)
MissionsSoyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57)
Mission insignia

Early life

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Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Auñón-Chancellor spent her childhood in Colorado. She has stated that her enthusiasm for opportunity and perseverance was influenced by her father, Jorge Auñón, who was a Cuban exile who emigrated to the United States.[4] She participated in scientific contests and advanced math classes as a child, showing an interest in both engineering and medicine. She has stated that she took a dual route in engineering and medicine because she was fascinated by both problem-solving and caring for people.[5]

Education

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Auñón-Chancellor attended Poudre High School in Fort Collins, Colorado, from which she graduated in 1993.[6] She holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University, an M.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in 2001, and an M.P.H. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2006.[1] She completed a three-year residency in internal medicine at UTMB in Galveston, Texas, in 2004, and then completed an additional year as Chief Resident. She also completed an aerospace medicine residency at UTMB. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Aerospace Medicine.

Medical career

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Auñón-Chancellor was hired by NASA as a flight surgeon in 2006 and spent over nine months in Russia supporting medical operations for International Space Station astronauts.[6][7] In addition to her work in Russia, she is known for practicing her medical knowledge in unconventional geographic zones. Prior to her medical experience in space, she was a part of an expedition close to the South Pole and worked underwater as a part of the Aquarius Reef Base.[8]

She received the 2009 Julian E. Ward Memorial Award from the Aerospace Medical Association for her contributions to spaceflight crewmember clinical care and development of medical kits to support launch and landing in Kazakhstan.[9][10]

Auñón-Chancellor serves as a Professor of Clinical Medicine for the Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency Program in College Station, Texas. In this role, Auñón-Chancellor acts as a mentor and instructor for residency and medical students. Additionally, she was the Director of the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Aerospace Medicine Residency Program, providing physicians with knowledge and insight into the practices of aerospace medicine.[7]

NASA career

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Auñón-Chancellor was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 2009.[1] She completed the astronaut candidacy training program in 2011.[citation needed]

As part of her training, she spent two months in Antarctica from 2010 to 2011 as part of the ANSMET (Antarctic Search for Meteorites) expedition. The ANSMET expedition consisted of a 9-member systematic team and a 4-member reconnaissance team that explored new areas where future teams may go. Collectively they returned over 1200 meteorites.[11]

She served as the deputy crew surgeon for STS-127 and Expedition 22. She also serves as the deputy lead for Orion – Medical Operations[9] and also serves in the ISS Operations Branch and CAPCOM branch, assisting with medical situations.[12]

In 2018, published research with her husband focused on the medical implications of space radiation exposure, including computer modeling of the radiation environment of a crewed orbiting spacecraft.[13][14]

In 2021, Aunon-Chancellor served as the Deputy Chief of the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center, focusing on medical support for astronauts and spaceflight research.

NEEMO

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In June 2012, Auñón piloted a DeepWorker 2000 submersible as part of the NASA/NOAA NEEMO 16 underwater exploration mission off Key Largo, Florida.[15][16]

In July 2015, Auñón-Chancellor participated as an aquanaut in the NEEMO 20 crew.[17]

ISS mission

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In 2018 she spent 196 days, 17 hours and 49 minutes in space aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 56 and 57, arriving aboard Soyuz MS-09. She represented NASA as a flight engineer from 6 June to 20 December 2018, supporting the ISS' preservation and planning for experiments completion along with her follow astronauts working a daily amount of 12 hours.[18] Following her 197-day stint on the ISS, Auñón-Chancellor moved into academia in 2019, currently serving as a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Baton Rouge campus of LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine. She also continues to provide medical advice for NASA's exploration and astronaut missions.[19] LSU Research Magazine

Management Astronaut

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Since returning from her expedition to the ISS, Auñón-Chancellor has served as a Management Astronaut, covering medical issues and on-orbit support in the Astronaut Office.[20] Although they do not participate in active spaceflights, astronauts in this role stay on staff. Rather, they help by providing ground support for ongoing operations, helping with crew medical assistance, training, and mission planning.[21] For Auñón-Chancellor, this has included bringing her expertise in aerospace medicine to future mission design, helping to improve medical procedures for deep space exploration, and offering medical guidance to astronauts getting ready for extended trips.[22] Even when they are not actively assigned to flights, the position guarantees that the program will continue to benefit from the experience of seasoned astronauts.

In January 2020, she published a case report on an unnamed astronaut who had to treat their own deep vein thrombosis on the International Space Station.[23][24]

Russian accusations

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In 2021, Russian state-owned news service TASS published accusations from an anonymous source claiming that it was Auñón-Chancellor who was suffering from the deep vein thrombosis that she published her paper about in 2020 and that it provoked an acute psychological crisis (emotional breakdown) in space during Expedition 56 and in late August 2018, in an effort to return to Earth, sabotaged the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft by drilling a hole into its orbital module.[25]

The accusation was denied by NASA and officials say they knew the precise locations of the US astronauts before the leak occurred and at the moment it began. None were near the Russian segment where the Soyuz vehicle was docked. NASA said they shared this data with Russians.[26]

The accusations in 2021 came during a period of increased geopolitical tensions between the US and Russia.[27][28] It also came weeks after a particularly embarrassing moment for Roscosmos; during the docking of the Nauka module its engines kept firing causing the entire space station to flip over one and a half times.[25]

Personal life

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Auñón's father is Jorge Auñón, a Cuban exile who arrived in the United States in 1960; her mother is Margaret Auñón.[1]

Auñón-Chancellor is married to physicist Jeff Chancellor[29] and has a step-daughter (from her husband's previous marriage).[30]

Auñón-Chancellor is a licensed amateur radio operator with the call sign of KG5TMT.[31] She earned her Technician Class license and was granted her callsign by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 2, 2017.[32] During the final weeks of her ISS mission, Auñón-Chancellor made random (unscheduled) ham radio contacts from the ISS, generally as the ISS made its Saturday morning and early afternoon (US Time) passes over the US.[33]

Auñón-Chancellor teaches students at Texas A&M University. She is a professor within the Family Medicine Residency Program. Her current fields of inquiry include thrombosis in microgravity, clinical implications of space radiation, and the significant medical effects faced by astronauts during exploration class missions.[34] She previously was the Director of the Texas Medical Branch Aerospace Medicine Residency Program where she helped train physicians who help hope to serve the U.S. space program.[35]

Honors and awards

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Auñón-Chancellor has received the following awards and honors:[20]

  • 2004 - Thomas N. and Gleaves James Award for Excellent Performance by a Third-Year Resident in Internal Medicine.
  • 2006 - William K. Douglas Award
  • 2007 - Outstanding UTMB Resident Award
  • 2009 - United States Air Force Flight Surgeons Julian Ward Award[10]

See also

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References

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Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

  1. 1 2 3 4 "NASA Selects New Astronauts for Future Space Exploration" (Press release). NASA. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  2. ↑ "Astronaut Candidates". NASA. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on July 2, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  3. ↑ "In Their Own Words: Serena M. Aunon". NASA. June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on October 28, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  4. ↑ "NASA - 2009 Astronaut Class". www.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  5. ↑ Tillman, Nola Taylor (September 10, 2019). "Astronaut-Doctor Serena Auñón-Chancellor Explains How Medical Research on Space Station Helps Patients on Earth". Space.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2026. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Deen, Lango (March 9, 2023). "Women's History Month: Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor". Hispanic Engineer. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
  7. 1 2 "Serena Auñòn-Chancellor, MD, MPH". Texas A&M University. July 15, 2024. Archived from the original on February 8, 2025. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
  8. ↑ "Serena Auñòn-Chancellor, MD, MPH". medicine.tamu.edu. July 15, 2024. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Julian A. Ward Award". Aerospace Medical Association. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011.
  10. 1 2 "Julian E Ward Award". Society of United States Air Force Flight Surgeons. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  11. ↑ Harvey, Ralph (February 2011). "2010-2011 ANSMET Field Season Report". Antarctic Meteorite Newsletter. 34 (1). Archived from the original on August 17, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Management Astronauts". NASA. Archived from the original on April 14, 2026. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  13. ↑ Chancellor, Jeffery; Auñón-Chancellor, Serena; Charles, John (January 2018). "Medical Implications of Space Radiation Exposure Due to Low-Altitude Polar Orbits". Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. 89 (1). Aerospace Medical Association: 3. arXiv:1710.07711. doi:10.3357/AMHP.4956.2018. PMID 29233237.
  14. ↑ Chancellor, Jeffery C.; Blue, Rebecca S.; Cengel, Keith A.; Auñón-Chancellor, Serena M.; Rubins, Kathleen H.; Katzgraber, Helmut G.; Kennedy, Ann R. (February 20, 2018) [August 19, 2017]. "Limitations in predicting the space radiation health risk for exploration astronauts". npj Microgravity. 4 8. Springer Nature (published April 3, 2018). doi:10.1038/s41526-018-0043-2. eISSN 2373-8065. PMC 5882936. PMID 29644336.
  15. ↑ "Astronaut Friday: Serena Aunon-Chancellor". Space Center Houston. August 10, 2018. Archived from the original on July 6, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Image of the Week: Aquanaut to astronaut". UK Space Agency. June 26, 2012. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  17. ↑ "crew of NEEMO 20". July 20, 2015.
  18. ↑ "GW Alumna Talks about Life on the International Space Station | GW Today | The George Washington University". GW Today. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  19. ↑ "LSU faculty work to improve life on Earth and in space". www.lsu.edu. Louisiana State University. Archived from the original on April 5, 2026. Retrieved September 21, 2025.
  20. 1 2 "Serena M. Aunon-Chancellor" (PDF). NASA. October 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 25, 2026. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  21. ↑ Capo, Leslie (June 2020). "From the Space Station to the COVID Ward: Serena Auñón-Chancellor, MD, Physician and Astronaut, Recounts her Life in Space and Teaching Residents and Taking Care of Patient". LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. Archived from the original on September 12, 2025. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Astronaut Discusses Science and Spacewalks at DIA" (Press release). Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence Agency. May 3, 2017. Archived from the original on December 12, 2025. Retrieved September 23, 2025.
  23. ↑ David, Leonard (January 3, 2020). "An Astronaut Got a Blood Clot in Space. Here's How Doctors on Earth Fixed It". Space.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2026.
  24. ↑ Auñón-Chancellor, Serena M.; Pattarini, James M.; Moll, Stephan; Sargsyan, Ashot (January 2, 2020). "Venous Thrombosis during Spaceflight". The New England Journal of Medicine. 382 (1): 89–90. doi:10.1056/NEJMc1905875. ISSN 1533-4406. PMID 31893522.
  25. 1 2 Berger, Eric (August 13, 2021). "Russia's space program just threw a NASA astronaut under the bus". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on January 2, 2026. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  26. ↑ Berger, Eric (August 13, 2021). "NASA stands by its astronaut after incendiary Russian claims". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 3, 2025. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  27. ↑ Thompson, Amy (August 14, 2021). "Russian space officials try to blame NASA astronaut for Soyuz air leak in 2018: report". Space.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2026. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  28. ↑ Davenport, Christian (December 21, 2021). "Tensions with Russia are now spilling into space, complicating International Space Station partnership". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 8, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  29. ↑ Hutchins, Shana K. (May 18, 2018). "Graduate Student Jeff Chancellor Honored For Space Radiation Research". Texas A&M Today. Texas A&M University. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018.
  30. ↑ "Serena Aunon-Chancellor: family". www.spacefacts.de. Archived from the original on November 26, 2024. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  31. ↑ "Radio Amateurs to Swap Spots on International Space Station (ISS) Crew". ARRL. May 30, 2018. Archived from the original on February 5, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Amateur License - KG5TMT - Aunon-Chancellor, Serena M". FCC. June 2, 2017. Archived from the original on April 15, 2026. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  33. ↑ "International Space Station Crew Member Fires Up NA1SS to Seek Random Contacts". ARRL. October 9, 2018. Archived from the original on January 25, 2026. Retrieved July 20, 2020.
  34. ↑ "2025 Rose M. Litman Memorial Lecture in Science: Serena Auñón-Chancellor". University of Colorado Boulder. Archived from the original on December 14, 2025. Retrieved September 30, 2025.
  35. ↑ "The Future of Medicine and Surgery in Space: An Astronaut's Perspective (Serena Auñón-Chancellor, PhD)". University of Colorado Boulder. Archived from the original on June 9, 2025. Retrieved February 28, 2025.
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