catching up with
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Dr. Daniel Hohman STORY BY STEPHEN FALESKI
Dr. Daniel Hohman, the son of Franklin resident Daniel R. Hohman, has been living in Moscow, Russia since July 2019 while working for NASA. Off the job, he’s taken the opportunity to see some of Moscow’s sights, including Red Square.
D
r. Daniel Hohman, a Gulf War U.S. Navy veteran, can barely look at a model of a Russian warship without thinking “target.” But that didn't stop the fighter pilotturned-medical doctor, who specializes in aerospace medicine, from accepting a position with NASA's Russia Services Group in Moscow in 2019. Now, as a member of the International Space Station launch team, he's tasked with providing medical care to the citizens of many nations, including some he once thought of as enemies. “Moscow is the most incredible city in the world,” Hohman said. “It's spotless in
cleanliness and 874 years old. The city's history is, simply, amazing. These people have been through so much in the last 120 years it would blow most American's minds. From the Revolution and the end of the Czars, to the hardship endured throughout World War II, then the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, one can barely begin to understand what they've overcome.” In addition to caring for visiting engineers, astronauts, cosmonauts and their friends and families, Hohman sometimes serves as a back-up flight doctor for training operations and as a backup for physicians at the American Embassy
in the event they are out of town or on vacation. “When you serve in the aerospace world, NASA is always 'there' in the periphery of what you are doing,” Hohman said. “We hear about the advances being made at the Aerospace Medical Association conferences every year and there is a relatively small number of Aerospace Med physicians in the nation, so we know one another pretty well. I had worked a rotation at Johnson Space Center in residency during the Space Shuttle days, and it is something you always have in the back of your head after being there. Given the opportunity to join the team was
