Bloomfield Credit: www.spacefacts.de |
Status: Inactive; Active 1994-2007. Born: 1959-03-16. Spaceflights: 3 . Total time in space: 32.46 days. Birth Place: Flint, Michigan.
Official NASA Biography as of June 2016:MICHAEL J. Bloomfield (Colonel, USAF, RET.)
NASA Astronaut (Former)
PERSONAL DATA: Born March 16, 1959, in Flint, Michigan. Considers Lake Fenton, Michigan, to be his hometown. Married to the former Lori Miller. They have two children. He enjoys reading, gardening, all sporting activities including running, softball, skiing, and any activity with his children. His parents, Rodger and Maxine Bloomfield, reside in Linden, Michigan. Her parents, Dave and Donna Miller, reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Lake Fenton High School, Fenton, Michigan, in 1977. Bachelor of science degree in Engineering Mechanics from the U.S. Air Force Academy, 1981. Masters in Engineering Management from Old Dominion University, 1993.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the United States Air Force Academy Association of Graduates, and the Air Force Association.
SPECIAL HONORS: Captain, 1980 United States Air Force Academy Falcon Football Team. Voted to the 1980 WAC All-Academic Football Team. Commanders Trophy winner as top graduate from Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training (1983). Distinguished Graduate of USAF Test Pilot School Class 92A.
EXPERIENCE: Bloomfield graduated from the USAF Academy in 1981. He completed Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, in 1983, and was selected to fly the F-15. From 1983 until 1991, he served as a combat ready pilot and instructor pilot in the F-15 at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, Bitburg Air Base Germany, and Langely AFB, Virginia. He completed the F-15 United States Fighter Weapons Instructor Course in 1987. In 1992 he attended the USAF Test Pilot School and was honored as a distinguished graduate. He remained at Edwards AFB, California, where he conducted tests in all models of the F-16.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in December 1994, Bloomfield reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. He worked as Chief of Safety for the Astronaut Office, Chief Instructor Astronaut, Director of Shuttle Operations, and Chief of the Shuttle Branch which oversees all Shuttle technical issues for the Astronaut Office. His last NASA position was Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations, overseeing the Astronaut Office and flying operations at Ellington Field. A veteran of three space flights, STS-86 (1997), STS-97 (2000) and STS-110 (2002), he has logged over 753 hours in space. Bloomfield left NASA in August 2007 to pursue a career with ATK.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: Pilot of STS-86, flown on the shuttle Atlantis (September 25 to October 6, 1997), the 7th mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. Highlights included the exchange of U.S. crew members Mike Foale and David Wolf, a spacewalk by two crew members to retrieve four experiments first deployed on Mir during STS-76, the transfer to Mir of 10,400 pounds of science and logistics, and the return of experiment hardware and results to Earth. Mission duration was 169 orbits in 10 days, 19 hours and 21 minutes, and covered more than 2.2 million miles.
Pilot of STS-97, flown on the shuttle Endeavour (November 30 to December 11, 2000), the 5th Space Shuttle mission dedicated to the assembly of the International Space Station. While docked to the Station, the crew installed the first set of U.S. solar arrays, performed three space walks, in addition to delivering supplies and equipment to the station’s first resident crew. Mission duration was 10 days, 19 hours, 57 minutes, and traveled 4.47 million miles.
Commander of STS-110, flown on the shuttle Atlantis (April 8-19, 2002), the 13th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. Mission milestones included the delivery and installation of the SO (S-Zero) Truss, the first use of the station’s robotic arm to maneuver spacewalkers, and the first time that all of a shuttle crew’s spacewalks were based from the station’s Quest Airlock. The crew prepared the station for future spacewalks and spent a week in joint operations with the station’s Expedition-4 crew. Mission duration was 10 days, 19 hours and 42 minutes.
SEPTEMBER 2007
Official NASA Biography - 1997
The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.
Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. 10 pilots and 9 mission specialists, 6 civilians and 13 military officers, chosen from 2,962 applicants, of which 122 screened in June-August 1994. 4 additional international astronauts.
Atlantis was launched on a mission to the Russian Mir space station. The TI rendevous terminal initiation burn was carried out at 17:32 GMT on September 27, and Atlantis docked with the SO (Docking Module) on the Mir complex at 19:58 GMT. The crew exchange was completed on September 28, with David Wolf replacing Michael Foale on the Mir crew. On October 1 cosmonaut Titov and astronaut Parazynski conducted a spacewalk from the Shuttle payload bay while Atlantis was docked to Mir. They retrieved four MEEP (Mir Environmental Effects Payload ) exposure packages from Mir's SO module and installed the Spektr solar array cap. The MEEP experiments had been attached to the Docking Module by astronauts Linda Godwin and Rich Clifford during Shuttle mission STS-76 in March 1996. In addition to retrieving the MEEP, Parazynski and Titov were to continue an evaluation of the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER), a small jet-backpack designed for use as a type of life jacket during station assembly.
Atlantis undocked from Mir at 17:28 GMT on October 3 and conducted a flyaround focused on the damaged Spektr Module to determine the location of the puncture in its hull. The Mir crew pumped air into the Spektr Module using a pressure regulator valve, and the Shuttle crew observed evidence that, as expected, the leak seemed to be located at the base of the damaged solar panel. Final separation of Atlantis from Mir took place around 20:28 GMT. After two landing attempts were waved off on October 5 due to heavy cloud cover, the crew fired the engines to deorbit at 20:47 GMT on October 6 and landed at Kennedy Space Center at 21:55.
The Expedition One crew today installed the final cables and sensors into the prime oxygen-generation system aboard the International Space Station and continued to set up laptop computers and communications gear as they neared the end of a full week aboard the outpost. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour's five astronauts blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center on the 101st mission in space shuttle history tonight to deliver the first set of U.S. solar arrays that will significantly increase the power generation capabilities of the International Space Station. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour's astronauts spent much of Friday checking out equipment to be used for Saturday's docking with the International Space Station, subsequent assembly operations and three space walks. For much of the crew's day, their spacecraft was gaining on the space station at about 500 statute miles each 90-minute orbit of the Earth. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour was launched on an assembly mission to the to the International Space Station (ISS). The main mission was to install a 72 m x 11.4 m, 65 kW double-wing solar panel on the Unity module of the ISS. The external tank and the Orbiter entered a 74 x 325 km orbit at 0314 GMT. Endeavour's OMS burn raised its perigee to 205 km at around 0347 GMT; the ET re-entered over the Pacific. Endeavour docked with the Station's PMA-3 docking port at 1959 GMT on December 2. Astronauts then installed the P6 solar panel truss to the station during a series of spacewalks. The P6 was made up of the LS (Long Spacer), PV-1 IEA (Integrated Equipment Assembly) and the PVAA (Photovoltaic Array). The LS carried two Thermal Control Systems with radiators to eject waste heat from the Station; these radiators were to be moved to truss segments S4 and S6 later in assembly. The PVAA had solar array wings SAW-2B and SAW-4B, which deployed to a span of 73 meters. Only after completion of three station assembly space walks on December 3, 5, and 7 did the Endeavour crew enter the station (at 1436 GMT on December 8), delivering supplies to Alpha's Expedition One crew. Hatches were closed again at 1551 GMT December 9, and Endeavour undocked at 1913 GMT the same day. After one flyaround of the station, Endeavour fired its engines to depart the vicinity at 2017 GMT December 9. The deorbit burn was at 2158 GMT on December 11, changing the orbit from 351 x 365 km to 27 x 365 km, with landing at Runway 15 of Kennedy Space Center at 2303 GMT.
The payload bay of Endeavour for STS-97 contained a total cargo of 18740 kg:
Endeavour's astronauts executed a flawless docking to the inhabited International Space Station at 2 p.m. Saturday and took the first step in providing additional power to the orbiting complex in preparation for the first of three planned space walks Sunday. Additional Details: here....
"It's kind of like Christmas up here going through these bags." With that comment, International Space Station Expedition 1 Commander Bill Shepherd indicated his happiness about the equipment, supplies and care packages today that were dropped by Endeavour's astronauts following Saturday's shuttle docking with the station. Additional Details: here....
Following a busy weekend that saw the crew of Endeavour dock with the International Space Station and install the new U.S. solar array structure during a 7 ½ hour space walk, the STS-97 astronauts have light duty on their schedule today before continuing activation of the new station power generation system. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour astronauts deployed the second of two huge solar wings on the International Space Station Monday in a slow and deliberate, almost two-hour-plus process that began at 6:52 p.m. The other solar wing, the starboard wing, was deployed nonstop Sunday in about 13 minutes. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour astronauts completed the second of the STS-97 mission's three space walks Tuesday, hooking up power and data cables and connecting ammonia coolant lines between the International Space Station's new solar array truss and the rest of the ISS. They also prepared a docking port for a January move to another area on the space station to get ready for arrival of the U.S. laboratory Destiny. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour's astronauts worked Wednesday to get ready for the Thursday space walk by Mission Specialists Joe Tanner and Carlos Noriega. They also took a few hours off to rest and enjoy the view from their spacecraft, moving at five miles a second about 235 miles above the Earth. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour's astronauts today will prepare for a third planned space walk, getting their tools ready and preparing the Floating Potential Probe for installation on the exterior of the International Space Station to measure the electrical potential of plasma around the station. Additional Details: here....
Space walking Endeavour astronauts sailed through an add-on job to tension a solar blanket Thursday, then completed their other tasks in textbook fashion. They topped off their scheduled activities with an image of an evergreen tree placed atop the P6 solar array structure, the highest point in their construction project. Additional Details: here....
Two of Endeavour's astronauts will return to their jobs as orbiting construction workers today, installing probes that will measure electrical potential surrounding the station and performing some added "warranty work" on solar array blankets that didn't stretch out completely on Sunday. Additional Details: here....
After their successful mission to the International Space Station, Endeavour astronauts spent much of Sunday getting ready to land at Kennedy Space Center Monday afternoon. They tested Endeavour's controls and stowed equipment in preparation for their 5:04 p.m. CST landing in Florida. Additional Details: here....
Endeavour and its five astronauts returned home to the Kennedy Space Center Monday evening, wrapping up a mission that delivered first set of U.S.-provided solar arrays to the Expedition One crew aboard the International Space Station, increasing power to the complex five fold in setting the stage for future station assembly. Additional Details: here....
With the International Space Station and the Expedition Four crew orbiting high overhead, the shuttle Atlantis lifted off this afternoon on a complex mission to install a 43-foot long truss structure as the backbone for future expansion of the orbital outpost. Additional Details: here....
Launch delayed from March 22, April 4. Space Shuttle Atlantis entered an orbit of approximately 59 x 229 km x 51.6 deg at 2052 UTC, and separated from the External Tank, ET-114. ET-114 reached apogee around 2122 UTC and reentered over the Pacific about 2150 UTC at the end of its first orbit. Atlantis fired its OMS engines at apogee to raise its perigee to 155 km. Further orbit changes will lead to a rendezvous with the Space Station on Station mission 8A. STS-110 carried the S0 truss segment to the Station. The truss was the first segment of the main backbone of the Station which was to grow to carry the large solar panel wings and radiators. Cargo manifest:
Atlantis gently docked with the International Space Station this morning over southern China, setting the stage for the installation of a 13 1/2 ton truss structure to the complex tomorrow and the ultimate expansion of the ISS to the length of a football field. Additional Details: here....
Atlantis has closed the distance between it and the International Space Station to less than 1,800 statute miles, and is continuing its approach in anticipation of docking with the station at 11:06 a.m. central time today. The linkup should occur as the two spacecraft fly over south-central China, to the southwest of Shanghai. The Atlantis crew, Commander Mike Bloomfield, Pilot Steve Frick and mission specialists Rex Walheim, Ellen Ochoa, Lee Morin, Jerry Ross and Steve Smith, was awakened at 3:44 a.m. by "Rapunzel Got a Mohawk," performed by Joe Scruggs. The song was played for Ochoa, at the request of her family. Additional Details: here....
The expansion of the International Space Station continued today with the installation of the 13 1/2 ton S0 (S-Zero) truss segment on the orbital outpost. Assisted by Expedition Four Flight Engineer Dan Bursch, Atlantis Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa gently lifted the truss out of the shuttle's payload bay at 5:30 a.m. Central time through the use of the station's robotic arm and maneuvered it onto a clamp at the top of the station's Destiny Laboratory. It took just under four hours to complete the delicate procedure. Additional Details: here....
Construction of a framework for expanded research begins today as the S-Zero (S0) truss segment is installed on the International Space Station. The truss will provide support for the cooling and power systems necessary to attach additional laboratories to the complex. Additional Details: here....
After successful installation of the S-Zero (S0) Truss and a spacewalk on Thursday, the focus of today's activities will shift from external construction of the International Space Station to the transfer of equipment, supplies and experiments between the space shuttle Atlantis and the orbiting laboratory. Additional Details: here....
The ten crewmembers of the Atlantis / International Space Station complex transferred experiments and supplies into their respective vehicles today as the latest addition to the station, the S-Zero (S0) Truss, continued to pass its initial checkouts with flying colors. Additional Details: here....
Construction of the International Space Station continues today with the second of four scheduled spacewalks to install the S-Zero (S0) Truss segment. Shuttle astronauts Jerry Ross and Lee Morin will float out of the station's Quest Airlock about 9:34 a.m. Additional Details: here....
Outfitting of the newest component of the International Space Station continues today with the mission's third spacewalk. Shuttle astronauts Steve Smith and Rex Walheim will continue installation work on the S-Zero (S0) Truss, now permanently attached to the station's U.S. laboratory Destiny. Additional Details: here....
The first railcar in space crept down the track of a newly installed truss structure at the International Space Station today, paving the way for the future use of the system on which the station's robotic arm will be mounted to travel the full length of the complex. Additional Details: here....
The first space railroad car will get a trial run today, highballing along 26 feet of the track atop the International Space Station's new S-Zero (S0) Truss at a maximum speed of one inch per second, or 100 yards an hour. The 1,900-pound Mobile Transporter begins its run about 6:30 a.m. Additional Details: here....
Atlantis astronauts Jerry Ross and Lee Morin completed the outfitting of the new S-Zero (S0) truss on the International Space Station today during a 6 hour, 37 minute spacewalk, installing a ladder, testing electrical switches for upcoming truss expansion and attaching external lights and equipment to be used in future assembly work. Additional Details: here....
Shuttle astronauts Jerry Ross and Lee Morin will make the fourth and final spacewalk of the STS-110 mission of Atlantis today, stepping out of the International Space Station's Quest airlock at 9:34 a.m. Many of their tasks focus on helping future spacewalkers. Additional Details: here....
Atlantis' astronauts tested out their ship's systems today and packed their gear, aiming for an early afternoon landing at the Kennedy Space Center Friday to wrap up a 4 ½ million mile mission to deliver a huge backbone truss structure to the International Space Station. Additional Details: here....
After traveling more than 4½ million miles on a successful International Space Station assembly mission that saw four spacewalks during installation of the first segment of the station's main truss, Atlantis is scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center today. Additional Details: here....