Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria
Astronaut
NASA Johnson Space Center

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, USN, is an astronaut at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. He has flown on two space shuttle missions - STS-73, a 16-day microgravity science mission in October/November 1995 during which he served as the flight engineer during the ascent and entry phases of flight, and was responsible for all operations of the "blue" shift on orbit, and STS-92, a 13-day assembly mission to the International Space Station in October 2000 during which he made two space walks and performed operations with the shuttle's robotic arm.

Michael was born in Madrid, Spain but grew up in Southern California. He graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1976 and holds a B.S. degree in Systems Engineering and an M.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and Naval Postgraduate School, respectively. He has 20 years of experience as a Naval Aviator and engineering test pilot, and has accumulated over 4,600 pilot hours in more than 35 different aircraft types.

His hobbies include sports, traveling, music and cooking. He speaks Spanish, French and Russian and is interested in international political and security affairs.