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.

FMI: www.xcor.com