Michael John "Bloomer" Bloomfield (born March 16, 1959) is an American former

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.

Early life and education

Born in Flint and raised in

Lake Fenton, Michigan Lake Fenton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fenton Charter Township, Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census the population was 5,559, up from 4,876 at the 2000 census. The CDP includes the unincorporated com ...

, Bloomfield received his bachelor's degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Air Force Academy, where he played Falcons football for coach Bill Parcells and was the team's captain. He became an F-15

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

with the rare combination of having graduated the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course (FWIC, pronounced 'Fwick') and then selected as a test pilot (assigned to the

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

test squadron at Edwards AFB). He earned his master's degree in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University in 1993.

NASA career

Selected by NASA in December 1994, Bloomfield reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in March 1995. He worked as Chief of Safety for the Astronaut Office, Chief Instructor Astronaut, Director of Shuttle Operations, and Chief of the Shuttle Branch, which oversees all Shuttle technical issues for the Astronaut Office. He first flew as a pilot aboard STS-86 in 1997, where he docked with the space station Mir. Bloomfield also piloted

STS-97 STS-97 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Endeavour''. The crew installed the first set of solar arrays to the ISS, prepared a docking port for arrival of the Destiny Laboratory Module, ...

in 2000 and commanded STS-110 in 2002, both missions to the International Space Station. Bloomfield has served as Deputy Director of Flight Crew Operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

since 2006, before resigning from NASA in July 2007. Michael then became Vice President of the Constellation Program for ATK.

Post-NASA career

He currently serves on the board of directors at Space Center Houston and resides in suburban

References

External links

*
Spacefacts biography of Michael J. Bloomfield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomfield, Michael J. 1959 births Living people People from Flint, Michigan American test pilots Aviators from Michigan Air Force Falcons football players Military personnel from Michigan Old Dominion University alumni U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Air Force Academy alumni United States Air Force astronauts United States Air Force officers Space Shuttle program astronauts Mir crew members