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Leroy CHIAO

ISS Commander,
Soyuz TMA TSC Flight Engineer,
NASA Astronaut, USA

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: August 28, 1960, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, but considers Danville, California, to be his hometown.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Monte Vista High School, Danville, California, in 1978; received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1983, and a master of science degree and a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1985 and 1987, respectively.

FAMILY STATUS: Single.

AWARDS: Space Flight Medals, NASA (1994, 1996, 2000).

HOBBY: He is an amateur pilot, has a license to be an instrument-rated pilot and logged over 2000 flight hours in a variety of aircraft. He enjoys basketball and skiing.

WORK EXPERIENCE:
From 1987 to 1989 Dr. Chiao worked for the Hexcel Corporation in Dublin, California; he was involved in the development and engineering research on the advanced aerospace materials.
In January 1989 he joined the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, where he was engaged in the research on the development of composite materials.
In January 1990 he was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate.
In July 1991 he passed a course of general space training and was qualified as a mission specialist.
He was engaged in the Space Shuttle flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), worked as Chief of the Astronaut Office EVA Branch. He is a veteran of three space flights and has logged a total of 36 days, 13 hours, 39 minutes in space, including four space walks of the total duration of 1 day, 2 hours, 18 minutes.
On July 8-23, 1994 he performed his first flight as a mission specialist of the Columbia Shuttle (STS-65) with the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) onboard. The flight duration was 14 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes, it set a new flight record for the Space Shuttle program at that time. The biomedical and life sciences research in microgravity was the main flight task.
On January 11-20, 1996 he performed the second flight as a mission specialist of the Endeavour Shuttle (STS-72). During this mission the crew retrieved the Japanese Space Flyer Unit launched 10 months earlier by the Japanese launch vehicle H-2, and also deployed and in two days of the autonomous flight retrieved the OAST-Flyer with the scientific equipment. In this flight Dr. Chiao performed two space walks of the total duration of 13 hours, 2 minutes. During these space walks the following was evaluated: tools, hardware and also techniques to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station. The flight duration was 8 days, 22 hours, 1 minute.
On October 11-24, 2000 he performed the third flight as a mission specialist onboard the Discovery Shuttle (STS-92). The main flight task was to deliver and assemble the Z1 Truss and Pressurized Mating Adapter PMA-3 on the International Space Station. In this flight he performed two space walks of the total duration of 13 hours, 16 minutes. The Discovery crew prepared the ISS for arrival of the first long-duration expedition. The flight duration was 12 days, 21 hours, 43 minutes.
He passed training within the ISS-9 Backup Crew as the ISS science specialist and flight engineer.
Presently he is training for a space flight within the ISS-10 Prime Crew as the ISS commander.

September 2004
Based on the data of Lindon B. Johnson Space Center, NASA, USA.