National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058

Biographical Data

NAME: Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (Commander, USN)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born May 30, 1958, in Madrid, Spain. Considers both Madrid, and Mission Viejo, California, to be his hometowns. Married to the former Daria Robinson of Geneva, Switzerland. He enjoys sports, traveling, cooking. His father, Eladio Lopez-Alegria, resides in Madrid. His mother, Louise Lopez-Alegria, is deceased. Her parents, Professor Stuart and Margareta Robinson, reside in Geneva.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Mission Viejo High School, Mission Viejo, California, in 1976; received a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1980; a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1988.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member, Society of Experimental Test Pilots; Association of Naval Aviation.

EXPERIENCE:

Following flight training, Lopez-Alegria was designated a Naval Aviator on September 4, 1981. He then served as a flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida, until March 1983. His next assignment was to a fleet electronic reconnaissance squadron in Rota, Spain. There he served as a pilot and mission commander aboard EP-3E aircraft, flying missions in the Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and Central America. In 1986 he was assigned to a two year cooperative program between the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland. His final tour before being assigned to NASA was at the Naval Air Test Center as an engineering test pilot and program manager. He has accumulated 4,000 pilot hours in over 30 different aircraft types.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Selected by NASA in March 1992, Lopez-Alegria reported for training to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. Following one year of training and designation as an astronaut, he was assigned as the Astronaut Office technical point of contact to the Space Shuttle Orbiter, Main Engine, Solid Rocket Booster and External Tank projects. His next assignment was to the Kennedy Space Center where he provided crew representation on orbiter processing issues and provided direct crew support during launches and landings.

From October 20 to November 5, 1995, Lopez-Alegria served as a mission specialist and flight engineer aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-73, the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission. The mission focused on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. Lopez-Alegria served as the flight engineer during the ascent and entry phases of flight, and was responsible for all operations of the "blue" shift on orbit. In completing his first space flight, Lopez-Alegria orbited the Earth 256 times, traveled over 6 million miles, and logged a total of 15 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 21 seconds in space.

Most recently, Lopez-Alegria served as NASA Director of Operations at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia. He is currently assigned as a mission specialist on STS-92 scheduled for launch in June 1999.