Carlos Ortiz Longo

Carlos Ortiz Longo (August 18, 1962 - 2010) used to be the Constellation Program Division System Manager for the Structural Engineering Division at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is responsible for integrating Constellation Program items related to structures, mechanics, materials, and thermal. Formerly the manager of the Crew Health Care System and Exercise Countermeasures for NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Early years
Ortiz Longo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he received both his primary and secondary education. As a child his creative imagination was encouraged by both his parents. His father, Dr. Ortiz, a medical physician, was very influential in his life. He was always fascinated with his son's curiosity and encouraged him to find out how things worked even if it meant taking them apart and putting them back together again.
Joining NASA
In 1980, Ortiz Longo enrolled in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez school of engineering. During his third year, while studying mechanical engineering, he came upon an advertisement in his school stating that officials from NASA would be visiting and conducting interviews at the campus. Ortiz Longo responded to the ad and went to the interview. NASA accepted him and offered a him part-time job in the continental United States.
In 1983, he moved to United States and joined NASA as a cooperative education student. He helped train astronauts for the first Spacelab mission which was carried aloft in the Space Shuttle Columbia's payload bay during STS-9.
Further education
He returned to Puerto Rico and in 1984 earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He then returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and was hired full-time as an engineer. He also worked on his Masters in the University of Houston. In 1993, Ortiz Longo earned his Master of Science in Material Science and Engineering.
In 1996, Ortiz Longo was selected from amongst 16 finalists in the astronaut selection program. He was also named the Space Shuttle Division Chief Engineer for structures, mechanics and materials. In 2000, he earned his Doctorate in Science degree from the University of Houston and in 2003 he joined the Space Station program.
His team works closely with the astronauts to ensure that the exercise equipment operate properly in space. His team is also responsible for the operation and maintenance of the heart rate monitors and the computers which contain the data of the exercise equipments.
Written works
Among his Professional Publications and Conference Presentations are the following:
*"Elevated Temperature Mechanical Behavior of Fibrous Ceramic Thermal Insulators," C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K. W. White, American Ceramic Society Pacific Rim Conference, Paper SVI-7-93P, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 1993.
*"Thermal Shock Behavior of Low Density Fibrous Ceramic Insulators," C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K. W. White, American Ceramic Society Pacific Rim Conference, Paper SVI-8-93P, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 1993.
*"Elevated Temperature Mechanical Characterization of an in Situ Reinforced Ceramic Matrix Composite: Si3N4 whisker reinforced BAS Glass Ceramic," K. W. White, Z. Xu, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, 96th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper SXIP-47-94, Indianapolis, IN., April 1994.
*"Elevated-Temperature Fracture Characterization of Advanced Fibrous Ceramic Thermal Insulators," C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K. W. White, J. Amer. Ceram. Soc., 77, 2703-2711, 1994.
*"Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment Thermal-Vacuum Qualification and Acceptance Testing," S. L. Rickman, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, 6th Annual Spacecraft Thermal Control Technology Workshop, The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA, March, 1995.
*"Hexacelsian to Celsian Phase Transformation Mechanisms in the Barium Aluminum Silicate Glass Ceramic System,” C. R. Ortiz-Longo, F. Yu, K. W. White, Presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper SXV-25-95, Cincinnati, OH, April 1995.
*"Method for the Calculation of Spacecraft Umbra and Penumbra Shadow Terminator Points," C. R. Ortiz-Longo, S. L. Rickman, NASA-TP3547, April 1995.
*"The Microstructural Characterization of In-Situ Whisker Reinforced Si3N4 /BAS Composite," F. Yu, C.R. Ortiz-Longo, K.W. White, Presented at the Joint Fall Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper 23-BP-95F, New Orleans, LA, November 1995.
*"Microstructural Studies of In-Situ Whisker Reinforced Si3N4 /BAS Composite," F. Yu, C.R. Ortiz-Longo, K.W. White, Presented at the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Papers SI-14-96 and SVIIP-18-96, Indianapolis, IN, April 1996.
*"An Experimental Study of the Microstructural Mechanisms Affecting the Strain-Softening Behavior of Mortar,” R Dasgupta, J.C. Hay, K.W. White, C.R. Ortiz-Longo, Presented at the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper T-40-96, Indianapolis, IN, April 1996.
*"The Thermal Synthesizer System," M. Welch, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, Presented at the 7th Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop (TFAWS), NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH, April 1996.
*"The Microstructural Characterization of In-Situ Grown Si3N4 Whisker Reinforced Barium Aluminum Silicate Ceramic Matrix Composite,” F. Yu, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K.W. White, Accepted for publication by the Journal of Material Science, January 1997.
*"The Microstructural-Creep Behavior Relationship of Si3N4/Barium Aluminum Silicate (BAS) Ceramic Matrix Composite," C. R. Ortiz-Longo, F. Yu, N. Nagarajan, K.W. White, 99th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper SXVI-49a-97, Cleveland, OH, April 1997.
*"A Composite Thermal Superinsulator Incorporating Silica Aerogel," J. Wittenauer, S. Lovejoy, K. Benner and C. R. Ortiz-Longo, Presented at the 49th Pacific Coast Regional and Basic Science Division Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Paper PCSVIII-019-97, San Francisco, CA, October 1997.
*"A Model of the Creep Behavior-Microstructural Relationship of a High Temperature Fibrous Ceramic Composite Insulator,” C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K. Ravi-Chandar, K.W. White, a white paper, 1997.
*"Microstructural Studies of the Mechanisms Influencing the Strain-Softening Behavior of Mortar," R. Dasgupta, J.C. Hay, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K.W. White, Cement and Concrete Research, 28 , 1429-1444, 1998.
*"Study of the Fatigue Damage Accumulation Mechanisms in Monolithic Ceramics," R. Geraghty, C. R. Ortiz-Longo, K.W. White, 101st Annual meeting of the American Ceramics Society, Indianapolis, IN, May 1999.
“Interfacial Phenomena in the Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of Monolithic Ceramics”, C.R. Ortiz-Longo, R. Geragthy, L. Olasz, and K.W. White, Abstract submitted to the 51st Pacific Coast Regional Meeting (PCRM) and the ACerS Basic Science and Electronics Divisions Meeting, Bellevue, WA, Oct. 27-29, 1999
Awards
Among his many awards and recognitions are: NASA Group Achievement Award, ORS Flight Experiment, 1986, NASA Productivity Improvement Award, New TCS Blanket Inspection Method, 1989, Golden Eagle Award, TCS Inspection, 1989, NASA Productivity Improvement Award, Thermal Interactive Mission Evaluation System (TIMES-89), 1989, Silver Snoopy award, STS-40 Payload Bar Door Seal Anomaly, 1991, NASA Fellowship Program, 1992, NASA Group Achievement Award, Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment, 1995, Space Act Award, Thermal Interactive Mission Evaluation System, 1995, AR&SD Elite Team Award, Letter of Recognition from the Chief of the Automation, Robotics, and Simulation Division, for support given to operational evaluation of the FGB grapple fixture, Space Act Award, Thermal Synthesizer System, TSS, 1996, Letter of Recognition from the NASA Administrator, Daniel S. Goldin, for contributions in the development of the Quantitative Risk Assessment System (QRAS) model, 1997, NASA Group Achievement Award, Space Shuttle Risk Model Team, 1998, NASA Group Achievement Award, Space Station Phase 1 Program Team, 1998, NASA Group Achievement Award, Orbiter Upgrades Definition Team, 1998, Various Outstanding Performance Ratings, and Performance Awards, 1985-1997, Chairman, Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop (TFAWS), International Conference, NASA JSC, 1997, and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.
Personal
Dr. Carlos Ortiz Longo currently lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and two children.

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