Michael Landon Gernhardt (born May 4, 1956) is a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

astronaut and manager of the Environmental Physiology Laboratory, and principal investigator of the Prebreathe Reduction Program (PRP) at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

Personal life

He enjoys running, swimming, flying, fishing, and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

. His father, George M. Gernhardt, is deceased. His mother, Suzanne C. Winters, resides in Whitestone, Virginia.

Education

*1974 Graduated from Malabar High School, Mansfield,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

*1978 Received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

*1983 Received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree in Bioengineering from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

*1991 Received a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in Bioengineering from University of Pennsylvania

Organizations

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(AIAA) *

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society The underwater environment is the region below the surface of, and immersed in, liquid water in a natural or artificial feature (called a body of water), such as an ocean, sea, lake, pond, reservoir, river, canal, or aquifer. Some charac ...

* Sea Space Symposium *

Aerospace Medical Association The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is the largest professional organization in the fields of aviation, space, and environmental medicine. The AsMA membership includes aerospace and hyperbaric medical specialists, scientists, flight nurses, ...

Undersea career

From 1977 to 1984, Gernhardt worked as a

professional diver Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazardous occupation and the diver works as a member of a team. Du ...

and project

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

on a variety of

subsea Subsea technology involves fully submerged ocean equipment, operations, or applications, especially when some distance offshore, in deep ocean waters, or on the seabed. The term ''subsea'' is frequently used in connection with oceanography, marin ...

oil field construction and repair projects around the world. He has logged over 700 deep sea dives, and has experience in air, mixed gas, bounce bell and

saturation diving Saturation diving is diving for periods long enough to bring all tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of the inert components of the breathing gas used. It is a diving mode that reduces the number of decompressions divers working ...

. During his diving career, Gernhardt attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania, and developed a new theoretical decompression model based on tissue gas bubble dynamics. He then participated in the development and field implementation of a variety of new

decompression tables There are several categories of decompression equipment used to help divers decompress, which is the process required to allow divers to return to the surface safely after spending time underwater at higher ambient pressures. Decompression o ...

. From 1984 to 1988, Gernhardt worked as Manager, and then Vice President of Special Projects, for

Oceaneering International Oceaneering International, Inc. is a subsea engineering and applied technology company based in Houston, Texas, U.S. that provides engineered services and hardware to customers who operate in marine, space, and other environments. Oceaneering's ...

. During this time, he led the development of a telerobotic system for subsea platform cleaning and inspection, as well as a variety of new diver and robot tools. In 1988, he founded Oceaneering Space Systems, a company formed to transfer subsea technology and operational experience to the ISS program. From 1988 until his selection by NASA in 1992, he worked on the development of new astronaut and robot-compatible tools for performing maintenance on

Space Station Freedom Space Station ''Freedom'' was a NASA project to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union address, ''Freedom'' ...

. He also worked on the development of new portable life support systems and decompression procedures for extra-vehicular activity.

NASA career

At NASA, Gernhardt reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. His technical assignments to date include: *Flight software verification in the

Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory The Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) was a facility at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was the only facility in the Space Shuttle Program where actual orbiter hardware and flight software can be integrated and ...

(SAIL) *Development of

nitrox Nitrox refers to any breathing gas, gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. This includes atmospheric air, which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, primarily argon. In the usual applicatio ...

diving to support training for the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most vers ...

repair, and on a variety of Space Station EVA developments *Member of the astronaut support team at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, responsible for Shuttle prelaunch vehicle checkout, crew ingress/egress *Spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) at Mission Control Center,

Houston 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 i ...

, during various Shuttle missions *Lead an international research team in developing a new exercise prebreathe protocol that improved the safety and efficiency of space walks from the ISS. Gernhardt presently serves as a member of the astronaut office EVA branch, as Principal Investigator of the Prebreathe Reduction Program, and as Manager of JSC's Environmental Physiology Laboratory. A four-flight veteran, Gernhardt has logged over 43 days in space, including 4 spacewalks totaling 23 hours and 16 minutes. He was a mission specialist on

STS-69 STS-69 was a Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF). The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 7 September 1995. It was the 100th successful crewed NASA spaceflight, not incl ...

in 1995,

STS-83 STS-83 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission flown by ''Columbia''. It was a science research mission that achieved orbit successfully, but the planned duration was a failure due to a technical problem with a fuel cell that resulted in the abort of t ...

in 1997,

STS-94 STS-94 was a mission of the United States Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', launched on 1 July 1997. Crew Mission highlights This was a reflight of the STS-83 Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. MSL was originally launched on 4 April ...

in 1997, and

STS-104 STS-104 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. Its primary objectives were to install the ''Quest'' Joint Airlock and help perform maintenance on the International Space Statio ...

in 2001. Gernhardt served as an aquanaut on the first

NEEMO NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, or NEEMO, is a NASA analog mission that sends groups of astronauts, engineers and scientists to live in the Aquarius underwater laboratory, the world's only undersea research station, for up to three ...

(NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) crew aboard the

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

underwater laboratory in October 2001. In April 2005, he was the commander of the NEEMO 8 mission. Gernhardt drove the lunar rover prototype at President

Barack Obama's Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

inaugural parade on January 20, 2009. On September 19, 2011,

announced that Gernhardt would participate in the NEEMO 15 mission in October 2011 from the DeepWorker submersible. The DeepWorker is a small submarine used as an underwater stand-in for the

Space Exploration Vehicle The Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) is a modular vehicle concept developed by NASA. It would consist of a pressurized cabin that can be mated either with a wheeled chassis to form a rover for planetary surface exploration (on the Moon and elsew ...

, which might someday be used to explore the surface of an asteroid. In June 2012, Gernhardt piloted the DeepWorker as part of the NEEMO 16 mission, for which he was principal investigator.

Spaceflight experience

took place from September 7–18, 1995. Its prime objective was the successful deployment and retrieval of a

SPARTAN Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

satellite and the

Wake Shield Facility Wake Shield Facility (WSF) was a NASA experimental science platform that was placed in low Earth orbit by the Space Shuttle. It was a diameter, free-flying stainless steel disk. The WSF was deployed using the Space Shuttle's Canadarm. The WS ...

(WSF). The WSF was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of using this free-flying experiment to grow semiconductors, high temperature

superconductors Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

and other materials using the ultra-high

vacuum A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. The word is derived from the Latin adjective ''vacuus'' for "vacant" or " void". An approximation to such vacuum is a region with a gaseous pressure much less than atmospheric pressure. Physicists often di ...

created behind the spacecraft, near the experiment package. Gernhardt was one of two astronauts to perform a spacewalk to evaluate future Space Station tools and hardware, logging 6 hours and 46 minutes of EVA. Mission duration was 260 hours, 29 minutes, and 8 seconds, traveling 4.5 million miles in 171 orbits of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

took place from April 4–8, 1997. This was the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission, and it was cut short due to problems with one of the Shuttle's three fuel cell power generation units. Mission duration was 95 hours and 12 minutes, traveling 1.5 million miles in 63 orbits of the Earth.

took place from July 1–17, 1997. This was a re-flight of the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1) Spacelab mission, and focused on materials and combustion science research in microgravity. Mission duration was 376 hours and 45 minutes, traveling 6.3 million miles in 251 orbits of the Earth.

took place from July 12–24, 2001. This was the 10th mission to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

(ISS). During the 13-day flight, the crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition-2 crew. Gernhardt was one of two astronauts to perform three spacewalks to install the joint airlock "Quest" (including the first US spacewalk from the ISS), and to outfit it with four high-pressure gas tanks. The mission was accomplished in 200 Earth orbits, traveling 5.3 million miles in 306 hours and 35 minutes.

Awards and honors

NASA Space Flight Medal The NASA Space Flight Medal is a decoration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. According to its statutes, it is awarded "for significant achievement or service during individual participation as a civilian or military astrona ...

s (4) *

NASA Exceptional Service Medal The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, ae ...

s (2) *

NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration established in 1991. The medal is awarded to both civilian members of NASA and military astronauts. To be awarded the medal, a NASA employee ...

* NASA Distinguished Service Medal

References

External links

Biographical Data from NASAPDF Version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gernhardt, Michael L. 1956 births Living people American medical researchers American underwater divers Aquanauts People from Mansfield, Ohio University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Vanderbilt University alumni NASA civilian astronauts Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers