Michael López-Alegría (born Miguel Eladio López Alegría on May 30, 1958) is an

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 ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

and commercial astronaut with dual nationality, American and Spanish; a veteran of three

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

missions and one

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

mission. He is known for having performed ten

spacewalk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA in ...

s so far in his career, presently holding the second longest all-time EVA duration record (first among NASA astronauts) and having the fifth-longest

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in ...

of any American at the length of 215 days; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006 to April 21, 2007. López-Alegría commanded Axiom-1, the first ever all-private team of commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station, which launched on April 8, 2022 and spent around 17 days in earth's orbit.

Background

Son of a Spanish father and an American mother, López-Alegría was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and raised in

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; corruption of ''Misión Vieja'', Spanish for "Old Mission") is a commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities e ...

. After graduating from

Mission Viejo High School Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. The school has served the area since 1966. Students within ...

, López-Alegría joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, where he earned 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

Systems Engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinki ...

in 1980 from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

, and 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

Aeronautical Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

in 1988 from the U.S.

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD c ...

. Designated a

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-bas ...

in 1981, his aviation experience in the Navy was as an instructor pilot in Training Squadron 2 (VT-2) at Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Pensacola, Florida, at Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 2 ( VQ-2) in Rota, Spain, and the Naval Air Test Center at NAS Patuxent River,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. He was the first

EP-3E The Lockheed EP-3 is an electronic signals reconnaissance variant of the P-3 Orion, operated by the United States Navy. Development A total of 12 P-3C aircraft were converted to replace older versions of the aircraft, which had been conver ...

pilot to be selected for U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He is a graduate of

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, publi ...

's Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security. He is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Russian. His son Nicolas starred alongside López-Alegría in 2006 in ''Mira La Luna'' (directed by Eduard Bosch). A second documentary, directed by Manuel Huerga, ''Son And Moon'', was released in Spanish theaters in 2009 featuring astronauts

Mikhail Tyurin Mikhail Vladislavovich Tyurin (russian: Михаил Владиславович Тюрин; born March 2, 1960) is a former Russian cosmonaut who flew several missions to the International Space Station and completed four spacewalks during his c ...

, Sunita Williams, and him.

Mission record

López-Alegría's first space mission was STS-73 in 1995; for several years afterwards he led

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

(ISS) Crew Operations office before returning to space aboard STS-92 in 2000 and STS-113 in 2002. During flight STS-92, he tested the SAFER jet backpack with fellow astronaut

Jeff Wisoff Peter Jeffrey Kelsay Wisoff (born August 16, 1958) is an American physicist and former NASA astronaut. Wisoff qualified as mission specialist and flew in four Space Shuttle missions, with his first launch in 1993 and his last in 2000. Career Wi ...

, flying up to 50 feet from the spacecraft. López-Alegría served as an

aquanaut An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as satura ...

on the first NEEMO (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 entertainment ...

underwater laboratory in October 2001. On September 20, 2006 López-Alegría docked with the ISS as Commander of Expedition 14, having taken off from

Baikonur Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

on September 18, onboard

Soyuz TMA-9 Soyuz TMA-9 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. It was a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to and from the ISS. It launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 18 September ...

. On Expedition 14, he performed five spacewalks. On April 21, 2007, he undocked from the ISS and returned to Earth. López-Alegría holds the all time American record for number of EVAs (10) and total EVA duration (67 hours and 40 minutes). The previous record holder,

Jerry L. Ross Jerry Lynn Ross (born January 20, 1948, Crown Point, Indiana) is a retired United States Air Force officer, engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the joint record holder for most spa ...

had a total of 9 EVAs with a duration of 58 hours and 18 minutes. López-Alegría is the second most experienced spacewalker overall, behind Russia's

Anatoly Solovyev Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev (russian: Анатолий Яковлевич Соловьёв; alternate spelling "Solovyov") is a retired Russian and Soviet cosmonaut and pilot. Solovyev was born on January 16, 1948, in Riga, Latvia (at that time ...

. On April 2, 2007, López-Alegría set the record for the longest space mission of any American astronaut. When he landed on April 21, his time in space on a single mission was 215 days. (The longest space mission on record is that of Valeriy Polyakov, who spent 437 days aboard the Russian space station

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

in 1994 and 1995.)

List of EVAs

* 2000-10-16 7:07 hours STS-92, EVA 2 * 2000-10-18 6:56 hours STS-92, EVA 4 * 2002-11-26 6:45 hours STS-113, EVA 1 * 2002-11-28 6:10 hours STS-113, EVA 2 * 2002-11-30 7:00 hours STS-113, EVA 3 * 2006-11-22 7:39 hours ISS Expedition 14, EVA 1 * 2007-01-31 7:55 hours ISS Expedition 14, EVA 2 * 2007-02-04 7:11 hours ISS Expedition 14, EVA 3 * 2007-02-07 6:39 hours ISS Expedition 14, EVA 4 * 2007-02-22 6:18 hours ISS Expedition 14, EVA 5 At the end of his ISS mission, he commanded the longest flight by a Soyuz spacecraft, making Expedition 14 the longest expedition thus far. López-Alegría broke the record for longest spaceflight by an American astronaut.

Post-NASA career

López-Alegría retired from NASA on March 12, 2012 and served as the President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation through the end of 2014. López-Alegría is an independent consultant to traditional and commercial space companies, serves on several advisory boards and committees to public and private organizations, and is engaged in public speaking domestically and internationally. He is based in Washington, DC. In 2017 López-Alegría joined

Axiom Space Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas. Founded in 2016 by Michael T. Suffredini and Kam Ghaffarian, the company first flew a spaceflight in 2 ...

as director of Business Development. He flew in space again in 2022 as commander of Axiom Mission 1, the first Axiom Space

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Ins ...

mission to the

. In September 2015, López-Alegría officiated the wedding of Kellie Gerardi and Steven Baumruk. In December 2019, López-Alegría officiated the wedding of Saúl Reza Arcelus and Jillianne Pierce.

Awards and decorations

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Michael López-Alegría
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez-Alegria, Michael E. 1958 births Living people Aquanauts United States Navy astronauts Commanders of the International Space Station Crew members of the International Space Station Spanish emigrants to the United States Hispanic and Latino American scientists People from Madrid People from Mission Viejo, California United States Naval Academy alumni Naval Postgraduate School alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators American test pilots Space Shuttle program astronauts Axiom Space Spacewalkers United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees Military personnel from California Spanish astronauts Mission Viejo High School alumni