Life and career Michael Foale

michael foale (foreground) exercising on iss

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he flew on space shuttle missions sts-45 (1992), sts-56 (1993) , sts-63 (1995). in last mission undertook four-hour eva. selected extended mission aboard russian mir space station.

launched sts-84 , returned sts-86, foale spent 4 months on mir in 1997 during mir 23 , mir 24 missions. during mir 23, station s spektr module struck progress resupply vessel. using knowledge physics degree foale made calculations of how stars moving past fixed-point thumb reference on window, , able advise russian ground control of how stop resulting roll. 2 russian cosmonauts of mir 23, vasily tsibliyev , aleksandr lazutkin, conducted intravehicular activity (iva) inspect collision damage interior of space station. during mir eo-24, foale , russian cosmonaut anatoly solovyev conducted six-hour eva in russian orlan spacesuit inspect exterior damage spektr module. efforts, awarded yuri a. gagarin gold medal fédération aéronautique internationale.

in 1999, foale member of space shuttle mission sts-103, during conducted eight-hour spacewalk replace components of hubble space telescope. in 2003, foale named commander of international space station expedition 8 cosmonaut aleksandr kaleri. six-month tour of duty on station ended on 29 april 2004. year, foale deputy associate administrator exploration operations @ nasa hq, washington d.c. supported soyuz , iss operations , spacesuit development nasa in houston.

in august 2013 announced leaving agency after 26-year career work on developing electric aircraft advance green aviation technology. since leaving nasa, foale has become actively involved in running of international space schools education trust, mission discovery , trips star city, russia, giving unique experiences students around world. mission discovery held each year @ guy s campus @ king s college london.