Michael Foale

C. Michael Foale (born 6 January 1957) is a British-born astronaut with dual UK-US citizenship; he is a veteran of four 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 US citizen: 374 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes.

Born in Louth and raised in Cambridge, Foale was educated at The King's School, Canterbury and Queens' College, Cambridge University, receiving a doctorate in laboratory astrophysics in 1982.

Foale joined the mission operations division of NASA in 1983 and was selected as an astronaut candidate 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. During a four month stay on Mir in 1997, Mir was struck by a Progress resupply vessel and Foale conducted a 6-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.

He was awarded a CBE in the diplomatic list of the New Year Honours in December 2004.

External link

• NASA Biography