Piers J. Sellers, a meteorologist and NASA astronaut, breathed his last on December 23, 2016 after having fought the battle against pancreatic cancer.
Piers John Seller was born on 11 April, 1995 in Crowborough of Sussex. He completed his Bachelor of Science in ecological science and a doctorate in bio-meteorology. He was well trained as Royal Air Force cadet, to pilot gliders and powered aircrafts.
Following his marriage, he went to the United States and began his career as a research meteorologist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Due to the lack of US citizenship, his applications to become an astronaut was rejected, in 1984. But in 1991 he became a naturalised citizen of the country.
In the year 1996, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA. He was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support during the initial stages. He then went onto serve in the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch.
His first space expedition was the STS 112, Space Shuttle Atlantis in October, 2002 followed by STS 121, Space Shuttle Discovery in July, 2006. The last one was STS 132 in May, 2010.
In an interview to NASA he had said, “It was more of a hope from a very young age. I remember my father telling me, just after Gagarin got launched, about how this man had taken off and going around the world..”, with a smile he added, “It was always my dream at the back of my mind that, to get to do that.”
During his last stages of life, he was active on climate changes issues and concerned about it. In an issue of New York Times’s Sunday Review, he wrote ” As an astronaut I spacewalked 220 miles above the Earth. From this God’s-eye-view, I saw how fragile and infinitely precious the Earth is. I’m hopeful for its future”. He added “First, we should brace for change. It will appear in changes to the climate and to the way we generate and use energy. Second, we should be prepared to absorb these with appropriate sangfroid.”
He has spent around 41 hours in Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) and has many feathers to his cap, the most prominent being the Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
