Jul 10 2015
Michael Foale
British Astronaut
Michael Foale is the British born astronaut who sprang to public attention whilst on board the Mir spacestation. Michael graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in Physics and a doctorate in Laboratory Astrophysics, While a postgraduate at Cambridge University he participated in the organisation and execution of scientific scuba diving projects. With the co-operation of the Greek Government he participated in one expedition and led another surveying underwater antiquities in Greece. In the autumn of 1981 he participated as a volunteer diver in the under water exploration of the 1543 ocean galleon, “The Mary Rose”, learning excavation and survey techniques in very low visibility conditions.
Wishing to pursue a career in the U.S. Space Programme, Michael moved to Houston, Texas, to work on Space Shuttle navigation problems at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation. In June 1983, Michael joined NASA Johnson Space Centre in the payload operations area of the Mission Operations Directorate. In his capacity as payload officer in the Missions Control Centre, he was responsible for payload operations on Space Shuttle missions STS-5IG, 51-1, 61-B and 61-C.
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1987, Michael completed a one-year training and evaluation programme in August 1988. Before his first flight he flew the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) simulator to provide verification and testing of the shuttle flight software, and later developed crew rescue and integration operations for International Space Station Alpha. He has served as Deputy Chief of the Missions Development Branch in the Astronaut Office, and Head of the Astronaut Office Science Support Group. In preparation for a long-duration flight on the Russian Space Station Mir, Foale trained at the Cosmonaut Training Centre, Star City, Russia. A veteran of four space flights, Foale has logged over 160 days in space including 10-1/2 hours of EVA. He was a mission specialist on STS-45, STS-56 and STS-63, and served as Board Engineer 2 on Mir 24.
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