Michael E. Fossum

Michael E. Fossum
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Active
Born	December 19, 1957 (1957-12-19) (age 53) Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Other occupation	Systems Engineer
Time in space	Currently in space
Selection	1998 NASA Group
Total EVAs	6
Total EVA time	42 hours, 01 minute
Missions	STS-121, STS-124, Soyuz TMA-02M, Expedition 28
Mission insignia

Michael Edward Fossum (born December 19, 1957 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is an American astronaut. He flew into space on board the NASA Space Shuttle missions STS-121 and STS-124 as a mission specialist and is currently aboard the international space station as commander of Expedition 29.

Education

Michael Fossum spent his early life in McAllen, Texas. He graduated from McAllen High School in 1976. He then attended the University of Texas–Pan American in Edinburg, Texas and later went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in 1980, followed by a Master of Science degree in systems engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1981. In 1997, Fossum received a Master of Science degree in physical science from the University of Houston–Clear Lake.^[1]

Air Force

Fossum was involved with the United States Air Force during his undergraduate years and served as commander of Squadron 3 in the Corps of Cadets. After receiving his first master's degree, he was selected to attend Air Force Test Pilot School from which he graduated in 1985.^[2] He left active duty for the Air Force Reserve in 1992 in order to work for NASA. He retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 2010, and has logged 1000 hours in 34 different kinds of aircraft.^[1]

NASA

The first time Fossum became interested in being an astronaut was at age 12 while watching the Apollo 11 moon landing. He rekindled this dream while he was assigned by the Air Force at Johnson Space Center during the early 1990s.^[1]

His NASA career began in 1993 when he was employed as a systems engineer to evaluate the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as an emergency space vehicle on the International Space Station. He also worked for the X-38 project, in which he was in charge of vehicle flight tests.^[1]

Fossum was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and joined the Astronaut Corps in August of that year.

Space flight

Fossum during a spacewalk

A self-portrait of Fossum taken on a spacewalk.

He entered space for the first time on July 4, 2006 as a mission specialist of mission STS-121 to the International Space Station where he participated in three spacewalks. On July 8, Fossum with Piers Sellers conducted a 7 and a half hour spacewalk making a repair to the ISS and testing using the Shuttle's arm as a platform for making repairs to the Shuttle. Fossum became the first Texas A&M undergraduate to travel to space.^[1]

In 2011 Fossum launched to ISS to become part of the Expedition 28 and Expedition 29 crews, and he will serve as commander of Expedition 29.^[3]

Personal

Fossum with a Texas A&M helmet

Fossum is currently married to the former Melanie J. London and they have four children together. In his spare time he enjoys activities with his family and pastimes such as jogging and backpacking. As an Eagle Scout, he is also very involved with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) as well as the Order of the Arrow and is the leader of two different troops. The BSA has honored him with its Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.^[2][4][5] He still keeps a close affiliation with Texas A&M University, from which he graduated in 1980. More recently, he attended a Junior Cadet Achievement Program (JCAP) Banquet in October 2006 and helped present scholarships to the high school senior cadets who attended the program. On May 30, 2007, Fossum was invited to be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony at Philmont Scout Ranch, starting off the ranch's 2007 season by relating to the staff there how his experiences both in scouting and at Philmont helped him overcome many challenges in his life.

A Junior High School in McAllen, Texas has been named after Fossum.

Fossum currently resides in Houston, Texas.

He is of Norwegian descent and his ancestors probably emigrated from Fossum in the municipality of Baerum, Norway.

Awards

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Meritorious Service Medal	with two oak leaf clusters
	National Defense Service Medal	with one award star
	NASA Exceptional Service Medal
	NASA Space Flight Medal	with two oak leaf clusters
	Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon	with four oak leaf clusters
	Air Force Training Ribbon

References

United States Air Force portal

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Astronaut Bio: Michael E. Fossum". NASA. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/fossum.html. Retrieved 2008-02-12. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Ray, Mark (Spring 2008). "The Astronaut Scouter". Eagletter 34 (1): 3. 
3. ^ "Expedition 28". NASA. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition28/index.html. Retrieved 7 June 2011. 
4. ^ "Distinguished Eagle Scouts". Scouting.org. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-04. 
5. ^ "Astronauts and the BSA". Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-558.aspx. Retrieved 2006-03-20. 

External links

• Mike Fossum on Twitter
• Interview
• NASA biography
• Spacefacts biography of Michael E. Fossum
• The STS-121 Mission

Persondata
Name	Fossum, Michael E.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 19, 1957
Place of birth	Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Date of death
Place of death