William Surles McArthur Jr. (born July 26, 1951) is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

and

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 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 ...

missions and one expedition 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 ( ...

via the Russian

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

capsule.

Army career

Born July 26, 1951, and raised in Red Springs,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, McArthur was active in the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

where he achieved its second highest rank,

Life Scout The advancement program for Scouts participating in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America is symbolized by the earning of seven ranks. The advancement program is often considered to be divided into two phases. The first phase from jo ...

. He attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

, graduating with 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 Applied Science and

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

in 1973, and earned his commission in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. After serving with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, McArthur attended the U.S. Army Aviation School and served tours of duty in Korea and Georgia (where he earned 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 Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1983).

NASA career

In 1987, McArthur attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and was trained as an experimental

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 ...

. He was assigned to a post as a

flight test engineer A flight test engineer (FTE) is an engineer involved in the flight testing of prototype aircraft or aircraft systems. Overview The flight test engineer generally has overall responsibility for the planning of a specific flight test phase, which i ...

and was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1990. McArthur's first spaceflight was in 1993 aboard

STS-58 STS-58 was a NASA mission flown by Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 18 October 1993. The missions was primarily devoted to experiments concerning the physiological effects in space. This was the first ...

. Subsequent missions included

STS-74 STS-74 was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and the second docking of the Space Shuttle with '' Mir''. Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' lifted off from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A on 12 November 1995. The mission end ...

in 1995 and STS-92 in 2000. A Master Army Aviator, McArthur has logged over 9,000 flight hours in 41 different aircraft and spacecraft. McArthur is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards and honors including the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the

Defense Meritorious Service Medal The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) is an award bestowed upon members of the United States military by the United States Department of Defense. In the order of precedence of the United States Armed Forces, it is worn between the Purple ...

(

Oak leaf cluster An oak leaf cluster is a ribbon device to denote preceding decorations and awards consisting of a miniature bronze or silver twig of four oak leaves with three acorns on the stem. It is authorized by the United States Armed Forces for a speci ...

), the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2001. McArthur was on board the

as a member of

Expedition 12 Expedition 12 (2005) was the 12th expedition to the International Space Station, launched from Kazakhstan using the Russian Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft. The crew landed back in Kazakhstan on 8 April 2006 with the addition of the first Brazilian astron ...

, having been launched on Soyuz TMA-7. He lived aboard the station from October 3, 2005, until April 8, 2006. McArthur served as the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance for the Johnson Space Center until his retirement in June of 2017.

Expedition 12

In April 2006, McArthur and

Expedition 13 Expedition 13 was the 13th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), and launched at 02:30 UTC on 30 March 2006. The expedition used the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft, which stayed at the station for the duration of the expedition for emerge ...

flight officer Jeffrey Williams tested a new method of preparing for spacewalks by "camping out" or spending the night in the Quest airlock, the decompression capsule through which astronauts enter and exit space. In the chamber the pressure was reduced from the normal 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) to 10.2 psi. The more commonly used method of preparing for spacewalks involves breathing pure oxygen for several hours to purge the body of nitrogen and avoid the bends. The "campout" method was intended to shorten that lengthy preparation time. Four hours into their sleep an error tone prompted mission controllers to cut short the activity, though it was still deemed a success.

Personal life

McArthur is married to the former Cynthia Kathryn Lovin with two daughters, and enjoys cycling, photography, and working with personal computers. In May 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

in recognition of his contribution to space science and engineering, as well as his outreach work with the Scottish Space School. He resides in

Friendswood, Texas Friendswood is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the metropolitan area. The city lies in Galveston and Harris Counties. As of the 2010 census, the population of Friendswood was 35,805. In 2007, CNN/''Money'' magazine listed Fr ...

Awards

References

External links

NASA's Expedition 12 page

{{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, William S. 1951 births Living people United States Army astronauts NASA civilian astronauts Commanders of the International Space Station Crew members of the International Space Station People from Laurinburg, North Carolina United States Military Academy alumni United States Military Academy faculty Georgia Tech alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni United States Army colonels American test pilots 21st-century American engineers Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers Mir crew members