Michael Foale was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987 and later was named mission specialist on three of his six space shuttle missions. During STS-84, Dr. Foale remained aboard Mir and used his expertise in physics to help re-establish the Russian Space Station after a collision with the Russian progress resupply vehicle (M-34). His other mission highlights include: conducting numerous experiments with ATLAS 1 & 2, performing four space walks, an emergency repair of the Hubble Space Telescope and launching on Soyuz TMA-3 to later command Expedition 8. Dr. Foale has become the only American citizen to have served on both Mir and the International Space Station (ISS). During his NASA career, he became Chief of the Soyuz Branch at Johnson Space Center supporting Soyuz and International Space Station operations. When he retired in 2013, Dr. Foale initially set out to develop an electric aircraft, but has moved on to applying machine learning to aerospace systems. He is passionate about promoting space travel to young people and has worked tirelessly to support NASA’s future in exploring the unknown.

Born in England, Dr. Foale attended the University of Cambridge where he received his Bachelor of Arts in physics and later completed his doctorate in laboratory astrophysics. In 2005, The Queen of England named Dr. Foale a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. This is order of chivalry rewarded his contributions to science and public service outside the Civil Service. Michael Foale is known as becoming the first person from the United Kingdom to walk in space and still holds the cumulative-time-in-space record by anyone in the UK. Although Dr. Foale carries dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Great Britain, the Stars and Stripes have always been displayed proudly on his flight suit.