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C. MICHAEL FOALE (PH.D.)
NASA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born January 6, 1957, in Louth, England, but considers Cambridge, England, to be his hometown. Married to the former Rhonda R. Butler of Louisville, Kentucky. They have two children. He enjoys many outdoor activities, particularly wind surfing. Private flying, soaring, and project scuba diving have been his other major sporting interests. He also enjoys exploring physics and writing children’s software. His parents, Colin and Mary Foale, reside in Cambridge, England. Her parents, Reed & Dorothy Butler, reside in Louisville, Kentucky.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Kings School, Canterbury, in 1975. He attended the University of Cambridge, Queens’ College, receiving a bachelor of arts degree in Physics, Natural Sciences Tripos, with 1st class honors, in 1978. While at Queens’ College, he completed his doctorate in Laboratory Astrophysics at Cambridge University in 1982.
EXPERIENCE: While a postgraduate at Cambridge University, Foale participated in the organization and execution of scientific scuba diving projects. Pursuing a career in the U.S. Space Program, Foale moved to Houston, Texas, to work on Space Shuttle navigation problems at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation. In June 1983, Foale joined NASA Johnson Space Center in the payload operations area of the Mission Operations Directorate. In his capacity as payload officer in the Mission Control Center, he was responsible for payload operations on Space Shuttle missions STS-51G, 51-I, 61-B and 61-C.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1987. 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 integrated operations for International Space Station Alpha. In preparation for a long-duration flight on the Russian Space Station Mir, Foale trained at the Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia. Foale also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office Expedition Corps, and as Assistant Director (Technical) of the Johnson Space Center. He served as a mission specialist on STS-45, STS-56, STS-63 and STS-103, was Flight Engineer 2 on Mir 23 and Mir 24 (ascent on STS-84 and return on STS-86), and served as Expedition-8 Commander on the International Space Station. A veteran of six space flights, Foale has logged over 374 days in space including four space walks totaling 22 hours and 44 minutes. Foale currently holds the U.S. record for time spent in space.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-45 (March 24 to April 2, 1992) was the first of the ATLAS series of missions to study the atmosphere and solar interactions. STS-56 (April 9-17, 1993) carried ATLAS-2 and the SPARTAN retrievable satellite that made observations of the solar corona. STS-63 (February 2-11, 1995) was the first rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir. During STS-63 he made a space walk (extravehicular activity) with Bernard Harris for 4 hours, 39 minutes, evaluating extremely cold conditions on his spacesuit, and exploring mass handling of the 2800-pound Spartan satellite. His next flight lasted 4-½ months aboard the Russian Space Station Mir, and was launched on STS-84 on May 15, 1997 to join the Mir 23 crew. Foale initially conducted science experiments, then helped reestablish the Mir after it experienced a collision and depressurization. He conducted a 6-hour EVA in the Russian Orlan spacesuit with Anatoli Soloviev to inspect damage to the station's Spektr module caused by the June 25 collision with a Progress resupply ship. Foale's long duration space flight ended on October 6, 1997 after return by STS-86, having spent 145 days in space. He then served on STS-103 (December 19-27, 1999), an 8-day mission, which repaired and upgraded systems on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). During an 8 hours and 10 minute EVA, Foale and Nicollier replaced the telescope’s main computer and Fine Guidance Sensor. The STS-103 mission was accomplished in 120 Earth orbits, traveling 3.2 million miles in 7 days, 23 hours and 11 minutes. On his last flight, October 18, 2003 to April 29, 2004, Foale served as Expedition-8 Commander. The Expedition-8 crew launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard Soyuz TMA-3 and docked with the ISS on October 20, 2003. His six-month tour of duty aboard the International Space Station included one 3 hour, 55 minute EVA. Mission duration was 194 days, 18 hours and 35 minutes and, at its conclusion, Foale became the U.S. record holder for most cumulative time in space having logged 374 days, 11 hours and 19 minutes in space.
APRIL 2004
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