Susan Jane Helms (born February 26, 1958) is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general and NASA astronaut.

Her parents, Lieutenant Colonel (retired, USAF) Pat and Dori Helms, reside in Denver, Colorado.

She was managing the development of a CF-18 flight control system simulation for the Canadian Forces when selected for the astronaut program.

[1] She served as the director of plans and policy, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

The crew demonstrated the physics principles of everyday toys to an interactive audience of elementary school students across the United States.

A highly successful extra-vehicular activity (EVA) resulted in many lessons learned that will benefit International Space Station assembly.

The major objective of this flight was to validate the design and operating characteristics of Lidar in Space Technology Experiment (LITE) by gathering data about the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere.

Additional objectives included the deploy and retrieval of SPARTAN-201, a free-flying satellite that investigated the physics of the solar corona, and the testing of a new EVA maneuvering device.

The Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission served as a model for future studies on board the International Space Station.

Helms’s prime responsibilities during this mission were to perform critical repairs to extend the life of the Functional Cargo Block (FGB).

In addition, she had prime responsibility of the onboard computer network and served as the mission specialist for rendezvous with the ISS.

On March 11 she performed a world-record 8 hour and 56 minute spacewalk to install hardware to the external body of the laboratory module, that stood until 17 December 2024, when Cai Xuzhe broke the record with Song Lingdong for the longest spacewalk in human history, of 9 hours and 6 minutes.

[16] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.