SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Retired NASA astronaut and Utah State University alumni Mary Cleave died on Nov. 27 at age 76.

Cleave, a scientist with training in civil and environmental engineering, as well as biological sciences and microbial ecology, was the first woman to serve as an associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, according to a NASA press release.

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Cleave was born in Southampton, N.Y., and received a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences from Colorado State University in 1969. She received a Master of Science in microbial ecology and a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Utah State University in 1975 and 1979, respectively, the release states.

NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana called Cleave a “trailblazer” and a “force of nature with a passion for science, exploration, and caring for our home planet.”

“She will be missed,” he said.

Cleave was selected as an astronaut in May 1980, the release states. She launched her first mission, STS-61B, aboard space shuttle Atlantis on Nov. 26, 1985.

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Her second mission, STS-30, which also was on Atlantis, reportedly launched May 4, 1989. On this flight, NASA said the crew successfully deployed the Magellan Venus exploration spacecraft, the first planetary probe to be deployed from a space shuttle. Magellan reportedly arrived at Venus in August 1990 and mapped over 95% of its surface.

Cleave transferred from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in May 1991, the release states. In March 2000, she reportedly served as deputy associate administrator for advanced planning in the Office of Earth Sciences at NASA’s Headquarters in Washington.

From August 2005 to February 2007, Cleave was the associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, where she guided research and scientific exploration programs for planet Earth, space weather, the solar system, and the universe, the release states.

She reportedly received several awards, including two NASA Space Flight medals, two NASA Exceptional Service medals, an American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award, a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, and NASA Engineer of the Year.

Cleave retired from NASA in February 2007.

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