Rick Searfoss - Astronaut & Professional Public Speaker

Bio - Rick Searfoss

Rick Searfoss shares his experiences as an astronaut and Space Shuttle commander. Rick delivers to his public speaker events the experiences that only a handful of people in history share.

Personal Data: Born June 5, 1956, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, but considers Portsmouth, New Hampshire to be his hometown. He's married and has three children. He enjoys running, soccer, radio-controlled model aircraft, Scouting, backpacking and classical music.

Education: Graduated from Postsmouth Senior High School, Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1974; received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the USAF Academy in 1978, and a master of science degree in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology on a National Science Foundation Fellowship in 1989. USAF Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College and Air War College.

Organizations: Association of Space Explorers, National Eagle Scout Association, Air Force Association and Academy of Model Aeronautics.

Special Honors: Awarded the Harmon, Fairchild, Price and Tober Awards, (top overall, academic, engineering and aeronautical engineering graduate), United States Air Force Academy Class of 1978. Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory Excellence in Turbine Engine Design award. USAF Squadron Officer's School Commandant's Trophy as top graduate. Distinguished graduate, USAF Fighter Weapons School. Named the Tactical Air Command F-111 Instructor Pilot of the Year, 1985. Selected for Outstanding Young Men of America, 1987. Recipient of the Air Force Commendation Medal, NASA Spaceflight Medal (3), NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross.

Experience: Searfoss graduated in 1980 from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. From 1981-1984, he flew the F-111F operationally at RAF Lakenheath, England, followed by a tour at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, where he was an F-111A instructor pilot and weapons officer until 1987. In 1988 he attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, as a USAF exchange officer. He was a flight instructor at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, when selected for the astronaut program.

NASA Experience: Selected by NASA in January 1990, Searfoss became an astronaut in July, 1991. Initially assigned to the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, Searfoss was part of a team responsible for crew ingress/strap-in prior to launch and crew egress after landing. He was subsequently assigned to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). Additionally, he served as the Astronaut Office representative for both flight crew procedures and Shuttle computer software development. He also served as the Astronaut Office Vehicle System and Operations Branch Chief, leading a team of several astronauts and support engineers working on Shuttle and International Space Station systems development, logged over 39 days in space. He served as pilot on STS-58 (October 18 to November 1, 1993) and STS-76 (March 22-31, 1996) and was the mission commander on STS-90 (April 17, to May 3, 1998). Searfoss retired from the Air Force and left NASA in 1998.