Clifford, Michael Richard Uram

Michael Clifford was born on October 13, 1952 in the city of San Bernardino , California . But the city considers Ogden , Utah , where he graduated from high school in 1970. In 1974, he received his bachelor 's degree from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York . In 1982, he received a master's and doctorate degree in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology .

Married to Nancy Elizabeth Brunson, she is from Darlington , South Carolina . They have two sons: Richard Benjamin (born March 14, 1980) and Brandon Brunson (born May 19, 1983). He loves flying, golf , tennis , water and mountain skiing, baseball and youth sports training ^[1] .

After graduating from the United States Military Academy in June 1974, Clifford was drafted as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served military service in Fort Carson, Colorado . In 1976, he entered the Aviation School. He was recognized as the best graduate in his class. He was assigned to three years as a platoon commander in Nuremberg , Germany . In 1982, after receiving a master's degree in science, he was assigned to the Faculty of Mechanics at the US Military Academy as a teacher and assistant professor. In December 1986, he graduated from the Naval Aviation School and began to serve as a test pilot. It has over 3,400 hours of flying time on various types of aircraft and helicopters. In December 1995, Lt. Col. Clifford resigned from the United States Army ^[2] .

In July 1987, Clifford was transferred to the Johnson Space Center in Houston , Texas . He participated in the 10th, 11th and 12th sets of NASA astronauts. In January 1990, he was enrolled in the NASA squad as part of the thirteenth set , a candidate for astronauts . He began to study at the course of General Space Training (OKP). At the end of the course, in July 1991 he received the qualification of "flight specialist" and was appointed to the NASA Astronaut Office . He dealt with issues of launch and landing of shuttles, post-launch evaluation of spent accelerators. He took part in the design, development and evaluation of the payload of the shuttles and equipment for extra-ship activity (VCA) of the crew.

• The first flight - STS-53 ^[3] , the Shuttle Discovery . From December 2 to 9, 1992 as a “flight specialist”. The main payload is classified, it was withdrawn for the purposes of the US Department of Defense . Two additional loads are unclassified. During the flight, 9 unclassified experiments were conducted. In flight, the USA-89 satellite ( NSSDC ID 1992-086B ), sometimes also called “DoD-1,” was launched . This satellite was the second in a series of communication satellites Satellite Data System -2 ( SDS -2), the first was USA-40, launched in STS-28 . Additional payloads installed in the Get Away Special (GAS) in the cargo hold were: Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS-1) and the Shuttle Glow Experiment / Cryogenic Heat Pipe Experiment (GCP) combined experiment. STS-53 is the last mission of military shuttles. The flight duration was 7 days 7 hours 21 minutes ^[4] .

• The second flight - STS-59 ^[5] , the shuttle Endeavor . From April 9 to April 20, 1994 as a “flight specialist”. The main objective of the mission was to study large-scale processes in nature and climate change. To accomplish the mission's objectives, a Space-Radar Laboratory SRL-1 (Space Radar Laboratory) was mounted on the shuttle, which includes two radars: a radar for constructing a radar image SIR-C (Shuttle Imaging Radar) and a radar with a synthetic aperture X-SAR (X -band Synthetic Aperture Radar), as well as an instrument for monitoring atmospheric pollution MAPS (Measurement of Air Pollution from Satellite). The flight duration was 11 days 5 hours 20 minutes ^[6] .

• The third flight is STS-76 ^[7] , the Atlantis shuttle . From March 22 to March 31, 1996 as a “flight specialist”. The main objectives of the STS-76 mission were to deliver the necessary cargo (in particular, 590 kg of water and 862 kg of equipment) to the Mir orbital station: behind the compartment with the shuttle docking system (ODS), the hermetic Spacehab-SM module was in the payload compartment "(From the English. Single Module ). A number of biomedical and technological experiments were carried out. During the flight, he performed one spacewalk: March 27, 1996 - lasting 6 hours 2 minutes. The flight duration was 9 days 5 hours 17 minutes ^[8] .

The total duration of extra-ship activity is 6 hours 2 minutes. The total duration of space flights is 27 days 18 hours 24 minutes.

In 1994, Clifford was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease , and his ship's commander, Kevin Chilton, knew about this diagnosis. After flying STS-76 (1996), Clifford decided that he should no longer fly, because the rate of development of the disease was not known. He left the astronaut squad and resigned from NASA in January 1997. Since January 1997, he began working as the Flight Manager of the orbital station at Boeing Corporation. A documentary on his fight against the disease is due to be released in 2012. ^[9]

Awarded: Medal "For Space Flight" (1992, 1994 and 1996), Medal "For Excellent Service" (USA) , Order "Legion of Honor" , Medal "For Commendable Service" (USA) and many others.

• List of astronauts and astronauts (and candidates) .
• List of US astronauts - participants in orbiting space flights .
• Timeline of manned spaceflight .

• Biography of Michael R. Clifford