Karen Nyberg was born on October 7, 1969 in Parkers Prairie, Minnesota. Her hometown is Vining, Minnesota. She is of Norwegian ancestry and is married to Astronaut Douglas Hurley and they have a son. She is an American Mechanical Engineer and NASA astronaut. She became the 50th woman in space on her first mission in 2008. She graduated from Henning Public High School in Henning, Minnesota in 1988. She then graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Dakota in 1994. In 1996 she received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She continued her studies at the University of Texas at Austin, centered on human thermoregulation and experimental metabolic testing and control, and focusing on the control of thermal neutrality in space suits. This work at the Austin Bioheat Transfer Laboratory led to her doctorate in 1998. In 1998, upon completing her doctorate, she accepted a position with the Crew and Thermal Systems Division, working as an Environmental Control Systems Engineer. She was selected to be an Astronaut Candidate by NASA in July 2000 and reported for training in August 2000. After two years of training and evaluation she qualified as a Mission Specialist. She was assigned for technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch, where she served as Crew Support astronaut for the Expedition 6 crew during their six‐month mission aboard the International Space Station. In July 2006, Nyberg took part in NEEMO 10, which is the world's only undersea research station, on a deep-sea training and simulation exercise at the Aquarius underwater laboratory to help NASA prepare for the return of astronauts to the moon and manned missions to Mars. Aquarius is an underwater habitat located 5.4 miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It is deployed on the ocean floor 62 feet below the surface and next to a deep coral reef named Conch Reef. Nyberg and her crewmates lived and worked underwater for seven days. A veteran of two spaceflights, she first served as a Mission Specialist on STS‐124 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery which flew to the ISS from May 31 to June 14, 2008. This was the second of three flights to deliver components to complete the Japanese Kibō laboratory. In May 2009, she was assigned to the STS-132 mission, aboard Atlantis which launched in May 2010, but she had to be replaced three months after assignment due to a temporary medical condition. She then served in a technical role until she received her next assignment as a Flight Engineer for Expedition 36 on to the ISS from May 13, 2013 to September 10, 2013 and on Expedition 37 from September 10, 2013 to November 10, 2013. She has accumulated 180 days in space over the course of the two missions. At the end of her 2013 missions she has worked for NASA in the Space Shuttle branch, the Exploration branch, and as Chief of the Robotics branch. She retired from NASA in March 2020. Her recreational interests include running, sewing, drawing and painting, backpacking, piano, and spending time with her family. Her parents, Kenneth and Phyllis Nyberg still reside in Vining.

click here