NASA Astronaut Patricia Hilliard Robertson who was badly injured in a plane crash Tuesday. Photo: NASA/JSC

NASA Astronaut Patricia Hilliard Robertson (MD) was injured in a private plane accident Tuesday afternoon. She was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston where her condition remains stable, but critical.

Robertson and the pilot of the single engine plane suffered second- and third-degree burns on more than 90 percent of their bodies, according to an Associate Press report. The plane cartwheeled and crashed into trees during a takeoff and landing practice at an airfield in Manvel, Texas.

Robertson is a member of the Astronaut class of 1998 and currently is assigned as a crew support astronaut for the Expedition Two crew presently on board the International Space Station. While awaiting a spaceflight assignment, she serves as an interface between the Mission Control Flight Control Team and the Astronaut Office on issues related to the Expedition Two crew and, along with other astronauts, coordinates activities on the ground for the three crewmembers in space.

She joined NASA's Flight Medicine Clinic at the Johnson Space Center in 1997 prior to being selected to be an astronaut. In addition to being a medical doctor, Robertson is a multi-engine rated flight instructor with more than 1,500 hours of flight time.