Michael E. Fossum

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Michael Fossum
Michael Fossum
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on June 4, 1998
( 17th NASA Group )
Calls: 3 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		4th July 2006
Landing of the
last space flight: 		November 22, 2011
Time in space: 193d 19h 02min
EVA inserts: 7th
EVA total duration: 48h 32min
retired on January 7, 2017
Space flights

Michael Edward Fossum (born December 19, 1957 in Sioux Falls , South Dakota ) is a retired American astronaut .

Military and university

Fossum was in South Dakota born, but grew up in McAllen ( Texas on), where he attended high school until the 1976th He graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in May 1980 . He then joined the US Air Force and studied at the Air Force Institute of Technology, which awarded him a master's degree in systems engineering.

From 1981 he worked, still in active military service, at NASA , where he participated in the implementation of space shuttle flights at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston .

He completed his training as a test pilot in 1985 at Edwards Air Force Base , where he was then involved in the further development of the F-16 .

From 1993 Fossum was in the Air Force Reserve and became a civilian employee of NASA, where he worked on various projects related to the International Space Station (ISS). Among other things, he investigated the possibility of using the Russian Soyuz spaceship as a lifeboat for the ISS. Fossum was also involved in testing the X-38 prototype, an alternative return option. In 1997 he graduated from the University of Houston -Clear Lake with a degree in physics .

Astronaut activity

Since 1987, Fossum had unsuccessfully applied to be a NASA astronaut four times. His fifth attempt was ultimately successful, and on June 4, 1998, he was inducted into NASA's 17th astronaut group.

During the ISS expedition 6 from November 2002 to May 2003 he was the chief liaison officer ( CapCom ). At the same time, he completed his training for spacecraft operations (EVA).

STS-121

In December 2003, Fossum was nominated as a crew member for the STS-121 spaceflight . The mission was carried out in July 2006 after several postponements. The main tasks were to prove, on the one hand, that the improvements made to the space shuttle after STS-107 and STS-114 work and, on the other hand, to supply the international space station with goods and to reinforce its two-man crew with an astronaut. This means that three space travelers have been working on the station again since ISS expedition 6 . During the two-week flight, Fossum and his colleague Sellers did three EVAs. They carried out repairs on the space station, tested a system consisting of two robot arms for their resilience and tested a new type of filler for its space suitability.

STS-124

From March 2007, Fossum was preparing for its second space flight. The launch of STS-124 took place on May 31, 2008. During three EVAs, he gained another 20 hours and 33 minutes, experience in field operations.

ISS expeditions 28/29

In October 2009, Fossum was nominated for a long-term stay aboard the ISS. From June 2011 he worked as a flight engineer for ISS Expedition 28 and took over command of ISS Expedition 29 in September 2011 . The landing took place on November 22, 2011.

Fossum left NASA on January 7, 2017.

Private

Fossum is married and has four children.

Web links

Commons : Michael E. Fossum  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ NASA and its International Partners Assign Space Station Crews. In: Release 09-233. NASA, October 7, 2009, accessed October 14, 2009 .
  2. ↑ NASA: Veteran Astronauts Retire from NASA. January 9, 2017, accessed January 10, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Fossum, Michael E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fossum, Michael Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Sioux Falls , South Dakota