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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

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 launch system, 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. ...

missions and one

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

mission. He is known for having performed ten spacewalks 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 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 just over 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 List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and raised in Mission Viejo, California. After graduating from Mission Viejo High School, López-Alegría joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, where he earned a

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

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 Enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering uti ...

in 1980 from the United States Naval Academy, and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1988 from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Designated a Naval Aviator 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 U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. He was the first EP-3E pilot to be selected for U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School'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, 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 agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

(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, flying up to 50 feet from the spacecraft. López-Alegría served as an aquanaut on the first NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) crew aboard the Aquarius 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 ( ; ) is a city in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered by the Russian Federation as an enclave until 2050. It was constructed to serve the Baikonur Cosmodrome with adminis ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

on September 18, onboard Soyuz TMA-9. 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, 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. 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 438 days aboard the Russian space station Mir 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 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, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consi ...

mission to the

. López-Alegría was the commander of Axiom Mission 3, which launched on 18 January 2024.

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 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 People with multiple citizenship 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 Hispanic and Latino American aviators