Spokesperson Bios

U.S. Army astronaut and Army NASA Detachment Commander Col. T.J. Creamer described being an astronaut as the most humbling experience, and he is thrilled that the Army has provided him with the opportunity to fly to space in December 2009 on his assignment to the International Space Station.

The 49-year-old astronaut from Upper Marlboro, Md., attended Loyola College in Baltimore with a scholarship through the Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC). He graduated in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army. 

Creamer entered the U.S. Army Aviation School, and after graduating as the distinguished graduate in his class, he was designated as an Army aviator in August 1983.  He was then assigned to the 1st Armored Division as a section leader, platoon leader, flight operations officer and as a personnel staff officer.

Creamer decided to continue his education, and the Army paid for him to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received his master’s degree in physics.  Creamer then went on to teach at the United States Military Academy at West Point as an assistant professor in the department of physics. 

In 1995, Creamer was assigned to the Army’s NASA Detachment at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  There he worked as a space operations officer and a space shuttle vehicle integration test engineer.  He was able to use the technology skills he learned in the Army as an engineer liaison for launch, working on landing operations of the space shuttle and during the systems tests for each orbiter in preparation for upcoming flights.

Creamer was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and attended astronaut candidate training later that year.  Having completed two years of intensive space shuttle and space station training, he was assigned to technical duties at the Astronaut Office where his focus involved the command and control computers on the International Space Station.

In March 2002, Creamer, chosen for his extensive technical skills, headed the hardware integration section of the space station branch.  Two years later, Creamer was assigned to be the Astronaut Office representative and coordinator for all things related to in-orbit information technologies and then was assigned to the robotics branch.