Christopher Ferguson
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| Christopher Ferguson | |
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| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Status | Active |
| Born | September 1, 1961 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Other occupation | Test Pilot |
| Rank | Captain, USN |
| Space time | 11d 19h 06m |
| Selection | 1998 NASA Group |
| Missions | STS-115 |
| Mission insignia |
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Christopher John Ferguson (born September 1, 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American Naval officer and a NASA astronaut. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University in 1984, and earned his Master of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis on his first mission to space, STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006 and returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. He is currently assigned as the commander of the STS-126 mission.
He served as CAPCOM for the STS-118 mission, and told the crew of Endeavour "Welcome home. You've given a new meaning to higher education," as they touched down safely.
[edit] Biography
Ferguson was commissioned from the Navy ROTC program at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Naval Aviator wings in Kingsville, TX in 1986 and was ordered to the F-14 Tomcat training squadron in Virginia Beach, VA. After a brief period of instruction, he joined the ‘Red Rippers’ of VF-11 deploying to the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean on board the USS Forrestal (CV-59). While with VF-11, he also attended the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). He was selected for the United States Naval Test Pilot School program in 1989 and graduated in 1992. Through June 1994 he was assigned to the Weapons Branch of the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland where he served as the project officer for the F-14D weapon separation program, becoming the first pilot to release several types of air-to-ground weapons from the Tomcat. He served one year as an instructor at the Naval Test Pilot School before joining the ‘Checkmates’ of VF-211 in 1995 and completing a deployment to the Western Pacific/Persian Gulf in defense of the Iraqi no-fly zone on board the USS Nimitz (CVN-68). He briefly served as an F-14 logistics officer for the Atlantic Fleet prior to his selection to the space program.
