Fri, May 23, 2003
Former NASA Astronaut Richard Searfoss Joins XCOR Board
XCOR Aerospace, Inc. just announced that former NASA
Astronaut Richard A. Searfoss, Col. USAF Ret., has joined XCOR's
Board of Directors. As a former shuttle commander, Searfoss' space
flight experience brings a unique technical background to the
company's Board.
"As an
experienced test-pilot and as someone who has been to space three
times, he provides an exceptional perspective to our effort," said
XCOR's President & CEO Jeff Greason. "We are very pleased to
have Colonel Searfoss join our team. As XCOR moves forward on our
suborbital vehicle, his direct space flight experience will be an
invaluable asset to design and engineering decisions."
Searfoss graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in
1978 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and holds a Masters
of Science degree in aeronautics from the California Institute of
Technology. His military career included flight training at
Williams AFB (AZ), and tours in Lakenheath, England, Mountain Home
AFB (ID), and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River
(MD). He was an instructor at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School
at Edwards AFB (CA), when he was selected for the NASA astronaut
program.
Searfoss piloted two Space Shuttle missions, STS-58
(Columbia) and STS-76 (Atlantis), and was the
mission commander on his third space flight, STS-90
(Columbia, again). In 1996, during STS-76, he piloted
Atlantis to the Russian space station Mir where the crew
performed the third docking with Mir. The STS-90 Neurolab mission
was the last and most complex of the twenty-five Spacelab missions.
Searfoss has logged 939 hours in space and over 5400 hours flying
time in 61 different types of aircraft.
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