12th August 2013
56 year old astronaut Michael Foale has retired from the US Space Agency NASA. Born in Lincolnshire, England but with a dual US-UK citizenship, Foale flew on six Space Shuttle missions, two Space Stations and a Soyuz. His 26 year career with NASA involved a total of 375 days in orbit with his first flight a Mission Specialist (MS-3) launch in March 1992. Dr Foale also spent time servicing NASA’s Hubble Telescope which takes high resolution pictures of the Universe from above the Earth’s atmosphere.
Paying tribute to Foale NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said:
“We salute Mike and his contributions to Nasa as an accomplished member of the astronaut corps.”
Until recently individuals born in Britain had to train with NASA however the UK Government has now decided to support human spaceflight. Earlier this year Major Tim Peake was selected as Britain’s first official astronaut. He will now train with the European Space Agency and has been assigned a long term mission to the International Space Station.
Foale is leaving NASA to work on developing green aviation technology and electric aircrafts.