Charles Bolden
Charles Frank " Charlie" Bolden, Jr. ( born August 19, 1946 in Columbia, South Carolina ) is a former American NASA astronaut and Major General of the Royal Marines. Since July 2009 he has been the administrator of NASA.
Education and military service
Bolden received in 1968 a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1977 and a master's degree in systems management from the University of Southern California.
In 1968, Bolden to the United States Marine Corps, where he underwent training as a naval aviator. 1972 and 1973, he flew more than 100 missions in the Vietnam War. After his return he was selecting and recruiting officer in Los Angeles and then he was employed three years at Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro ( California). In July 1979 he was admitted as a test pilot from the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River ( Maryland).
Astronauts activity
- STS 61- C ( 1986)
- STS -31 ( 1990)
- STS -45 ( 1992)
- STS -60 ( 1994)
Bolden was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in May 1980.
STS 61- C
Bolden started on 12 January 1986 as the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia on its first flight into space. The main objective of the mission was to bring the communications satellite SATCOM Ku -1 into orbit. In addition, numerous smaller astrophysical and materials science experiments were performed.
STS -31
Bolden's second flight began on April 24, 1990. Principal task of STS -31 was the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition, with an IMAX camera shots were taken from the earth. The Discovery landed after five days on April 29.
STS -45
As commander of the space shuttle Atlantis Bolden flew as part of the ATLAS - 1 mission (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science ) on March 24, 1992 into space. This Spacelab mission studies in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, solar radiation, plasma physics and ultraviolet astronomy were carried out.
STS -60
February 3, 1994 Bolden started on his last mission. A special feature of this flight was that for the first time a Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev flew with an American spaceship. The Wake Shield Facility and the Spacehab module were the main payloads aboard Discovery.
According to the NASA
In June 1994, Bolden left NASA and returned to active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps. In July 1998 he was promoted to Major General. On 9 August 2002, he retired from the Marine Corps and is since January 1, 2003, President and Chief Operating Officer of American Puretex Water Corporation and PURETEX Water Works.
Vocation to the NASA Administrator
On 20 May 2009 he was nominated by President Barack Obama for the post of NASA administrator, and Lori Garver as his deputy. On 15 July 2009 Bolden was confirmed by the Senate as the NASA Administrator and the successor to Michael Griffin.
Private
Charles Bolden and his wife Alexis have two children.