Jerry M. Linenger
Jerry Michael Linenger ( born January 16, 1955 in Mount Clemens, Michigan, United States) is an American astronaut.
Linenger studied Life Sciences at the U.S. Naval Academy, 1977, he received a bachelor's degree, and then moved to the Wayne State University. There he studied medicine and received his doctorate in 1981. Afterwards he was flight surgeon in the Philippines and medical advisor to the commander of the Pacific Fleet, before enrolling again at universities. In 1988, the University of Southern California awarded him a Masters in Systems Management. Then he specialized his medical expertise at the University of North Carolina. After graduating in 1989 as a master's degree in health policy in the same year he received a doctorate in epidemiology.
Astronauts activity
Linenger was selected in 1992 by NASA astronaut group with the 14th as one of 15 mission specialists. Basic training began in the summer of 1992 and was completed after one year.
STS -64
His first flight took Linenger in September 1994 with the space shuttle Discovery. As part of STS- 64, the laser optical radar system LITE were tested. A further object was the launching and recovering of astronomical research satellites SPARTAN -201, a free- flying satellites to investigate the solar wind and the solar corona. After eleven days in space, he landed on 20 September 1994 at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Use on the Mir
During his second deployment Linenger was for 132 days as a guest on the Russian space station Mir. As the first American astronaut Jerry Linenger, Michael had the opportunity to fly in a Soviet spacecraft, Soyuz TM -24 in 1997 as has been implemented by a docking port of the Mir to another on 7 February. He was also the first American astronaut who wore a Soviet cosmonaut suit in an outdoor missions in space.
He ended his career as an astronaut in 1998 after his successful mission to the Mir space station.