Michael R. Clifford
- STS -53 (1992)
- STS -59 (1994)
- STS -76 ( 1996)
Michael Richard Uram " Rich" Clifford ( born October 13, 1952, Norton Air Force Base, State of California, USA ) is a former American astronaut.
Clifford received a Bachelor of the United States Military Academy (West Point ) in 1982 and a master's degree in aeronautics and aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology 1974.
1974 Clifford went to the United States Army and was trained there to become a pilot. The 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment, he was stationed for three years in Germany. From 1982 he was a Department of Mechanics at West Point instructor and assistant professor. In December 1986, he completed his training as a test pilot.
Astronauts activity
In July 1987, Clifford came to the Johnson Space Center, where he worked on the Space Shuttle program. Following an unsuccessful applications for the 11 and 12 astronaut group NASA Clifford was selected in January 1990 with the 13th group as astronaut candidate.
STS -53
On 2 December 1992 Clifford flew as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery for the first time into space. This mission was carried out on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense with a secret payload. Presumably there was a spy satellites for surveillance of radio signals.
STS -59
His next assignment as a mission specialist had Clifford on April 9, 1994. Aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, the so-called Space Radar Laboratory mission (SRL ) was performed. SRL was composed of three major radar equipment and a carbon monoxide sensor which have been used for studies of the surface and the atmosphere. Real-time observations of surface features and weather conditions along with over 14,000 photographs helped the researchers in the evaluation of the data.
STS -76
On 22 March 1996 Clifford started as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to the Russian space station Mir. The third rendezvous mission, the astronaut Shannon Lucid was taken to the Mir space station. In addition, supplies, equipment and Experimentiergut were delivered. In addition, supplies, equipment and Experimentiergut were delivered and performed technological and biological experiments in Spacehab. Together with Linda Clifford Godwin mounted in a six-hour spacewalk different devices on the outside of the space station. Very few people, including Commander Kevin Chilton knew that two years before Parkinson's disease was diagnosed at Clifford. On the part of NASA, there had been no objection to Clifford's use, after returning, however, Clifford decided to perform no further space flight more.
According to the NASA
After leaving NASA Clifford was in January 1997, Flight Operations Manager of the Space Station program from Boeing.
Private
Michael Clifford is married and has two children.