Michael Foale

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Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD, (born 6 January 1957) is an Anglo-American astrophysicist and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station. He was the first Briton to perform a space walk, and holds the record for most time spent in space by a UK and US citizen: 374 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes.

Biography

Born in Louth to English father Colin and American mother, he was raised in Cambridge and educated at The King's School, Canterbury. A member of the Air Training Corps, he studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, receiving a doctorate in laboratory astrophysics in 1982. When he left university he: "owned two pairs of jeans, a donkey jacket, a bicycle and a pilot’s licence; which shows I had my priorities absolutely right.”

Foale joined the mission operations division of NASA in 1983 aged 24, working on the shuttles navigation system. Having gained dual-UK/US citizenship, he applied and was turned down twice as an astronaut candidate. After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986, Foale changed his application essay from writing about his dreams to focusing on the realities of leadership faced by NASA, and was selected in 1987.

He flew on space shuttle missions STS-45 (1992), STS-56 (1993) and STS-63 (1995). In the latter mission he undertook a four-hour EVA. He was then selected for an extended mission aboard the Russian Mir space station. Launched by STS-84 and returned by STS-86, Foale spent four months on Mir in 1997. During his stay, the station was struck by a Progress resupply vessel. Using his physics degree from calculations of how the stars were moving past his fixed-point thumb reference on a window, Foale was able to advise ground control of how to stop the resulting roll. He then conducted a six-hour EVA to inspect exterior damage.

In 1999, Foale was a member of space shuttle mission STS-103, during which he conducted an 8-hour spacewalk to replace components of the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2003, Foale was named commander of International Space Station Expedition 8 with cosmonaut Alexandr Kaleri. His six-month tour of duty on the station ended on April 29, 2004. Foale is currently Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Operations at NASA HQ, Washington D.C.

Foale was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in July 2000; an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Kent in September 2000; and a CBE in the diplomatic list of the New Year Honours in December 2004.

Personal life

Married with two children, the family live in Houston, Texas. Foale was the driver of a car in 1980 in Yugoslavia, when a truck accidentally veered across the road and smashed into his car, killing his then girlfriend and his brother.

Foale's father, Colin Foale, wrote a book in 1999 titled "Waystation to the Stars"' Foale's experiences on Mir. He has never owned a brand new car, and his hobbies include surfing and cross-country skiing. Foale is qualified to fly both fixed wing aeroplanes up to fast jets, as well as helicopters.

References

External links

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Last updated on Thursday February 14, 2008 at 06:05:03 PST (GMT -0800)
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