Michael E. Fossum

• STS- 121 (2006)
• STS- 124 (2008)
• Soyuz TMA- 02M (2011)   ISS Expedition 28
• ISS Expedition 29

Michael Edward Fossum ( born December 19, 1957 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States ) is an American astronaut.

Military and study

Fossum was born in South Dakota, but grew up in McAllen (Texas ), where he attended high school until 1976. The studies of mechanical engineering at Texas A & M University in College Station where he graduated as Bachelor in May 1980. He then joined the U.S. Air Force and studied at the Air Force Institute of Technology, which awarded him the title of Master in the art technology.

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

The training to become a test pilot, he joined in 1985 at Edwards Air Force Base, where he was then also involved in the development of the F -16.

From 1993, Fossum was in the Air Force Reserve and was civilian employee of NASA, where he worked on various projects around the International Space Station (ISS ). Among other things, he investigated the possibility of using the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as a lifeboat for the ISS. Also in the tests of the X-38 prototype, an alternative possibility of return, Fossum was involved. In 1997 he completed a physics degree at the University of Houston -Clear Lake.

Astronauts activity

Since 1987, Fossum had four times unsuccessfully advertised as NASA astronaut. His fifth attempt was eventually successful, and he was accepted into the astronaut group 17 NASA on 4 June 1998.

During the ISS Expedition 6 November 2002 to May 2003 he was a senior spokesman connection ( CapCom ). In parallel, he completed his training for spacewalks (EVA).

STS -121

In December 2003, Fossum was nominated as a member of the crew of the space flight STS -121. The mission was carried out according to several shifts in July 2006. Main tasks were once prove that the angegangenen after STS- 107 and STS -114 Space Shuttle improvements to the work and secondly, to supply the International Space Station with goods as well as to reinforce their two -man crew by an astronaut. Thus, since the ISS Expedition 6, three astronauts were again working on the station. During the two-week flight Fossum and his colleague Sellers took three EVAs. They led repairs to the space station by, tested a system of two robot arms to their resilience and tested a new type of filler on their suitability for space.

STS -124

From March 2007 to Fossum was preparing for his second spaceflight. The launch of STS -124 on 31 May 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 an extended stay aboard the ISS. Since June 2011, he worked as an engineer aboard the ISS Expedition 28 and took over in September 2011, the command of the ISS Expedition 29 The landing took place on 22 November 2011.

Private

Fossum is married and has four children.