| Michael López-Alegría | |
|---|---|
| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | Spanish/American |
| Status | Active |
| Born | May 30, 1958 Madrid, Spain |
| Other occupation | Engineering test pilot |
| Rank | Captain, USN |
| Time in space | 257d 22h 46m |
| Selection | 1992 NASA Group |
| Total EVAs | 10 |
| Total EVA time | 67 hours, 40 minutes |
| Missions | STS-73, STS-92, STS-113 , Soyuz TMA-9, Expedition 14 |
| Mission insignia | |
Michael Eladio "LA" López-Alegría (also known as Miguel López-Alegría) b. May 30, 1958, is a Spanish-American astronaut; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission. He is known for having performed ten EVAs so far in his career, presently holding the #2 all-time EVA duration record and having the longest spaceflight of any American at the length 215 days, this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006 to April 21, 2007.
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López-Alegría was born in Madrid, Spain and raised in Mission Viejo, California. López-Alegría joined the United States Navy, where he earned engineering degrees in 1980, and 1988 from the Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School. His fleet experience in the Navy was at VQ-2 in Rota, Spain and the Naval Test Pilot School, Pax River. A natural leader, he was the top Lieutenant of 60 in the second largest aviation wardroom in the Navy (105 officers). He made many connections with Spanish military and civilian personnel while in Spain for his first tour that have made him very popular and well-known in Spanish media. He was one of the few EP-3E pilots in the squadron to get time in the EA-3B.
López-Alegría's first space mission was STS-73 in 1995; for several years afterwards he led NASA's International Space Station (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.[1]
López-Alegría served as an aquanaut on the first NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) crew aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory in October 2001.[2]
On 19 September 2006 López-Alegría docked with the ISS as Commander of Expedition 14, having taken off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 18 September, onboard Soyuz TMA-9. On Expedition 14, he performed five spacewalks. On 21 April 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.[3] (The longest space mission on record is that of Valeriy Polyakov, who spent 437 days aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1994 and 1995.)
On October 19, 2007, López-Alegría visited his old high school Mission Viejo High School, where he told the students about his space travel expedition.
López-Alegría currently serves as Flight Crew Operations Directorate Assistant Director for ISS. He is the primary interface (at the directorate level) to the ISS Program and works closely with the Astronaut Office EVA Branch and ISS Operations Branch.
At the end of his 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.[4]
| Preceded by Pavel Vinogradov |
ISS Alpha Commander 06 July 2006 to 21 April 2007 |
Succeeded by Fyodor Yurchikhin |
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
| National Defense Service Medal | with one award star | |
| NASA Space Flight Medal | with three oak leaf clusters |
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