Leroy Chiao
Leroy Chiao (Chinese: 焦立中; pinyin: Jiāo Li-zhong), (born August 28, 1960) is an American engineer, former NASA astronaut, entrepreneur, motivational speaker and engineering consultant. Chiao flew on three shuttle flights, and was the commander of Expedition 10, where he lived on board the International Space Station from October 13, 2004 to April 24, 2005. He is also a co-author and researcher for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity Project. Chiao was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and raised in Danville, California. In 1983, he received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Master of Science and then a Doctor of Philosophy in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1985 and 1987, respectively. Upon graduation, Chiao worked at Hexcel Corporation in Dublin, California from 1987 to 1989. He was involved in process, manufacturing and engineering research on advanced aerospace materials, and worked on a joint NASA-JPL/Hexcel project to develop a practical, optically correct, precision segment reflector made entirely of advanced polymer composite materials for future space telescopes, as well as working on cure modeling and finite element analysis. In January 1989, Chiao joined the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, where he was involved in processing research for fabrication of filament-wound and thick-section aerospace composites. Chiao also developed and demonstrated a mechanistic cure model for graphite fiber/epoxy composite material (see Graphite-reinforced plastic). An instrument-rated pilot, Chiao has logged over 2500 flight hours in a variety of aircraft. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Chiao became an astronaut in July 1991. A veteran of three space flights, Chiao flew as a mission specialist on STS-65 in 1994, STS-72 in 1996 and STS-92 in 2000. On November 2, 2004, Chiao voted in the 2004 United States presidential election from aboard the International Space Station, making him the first American to vote in a presidential election while in space. Chiao left NASA in December 2005 to pursue employment in the private sector.
Spaceflights
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 STS-65 MSP 08.07.1994 - 23.07.1994 14d 17h 55m
2 STS-72 MSP 11.01.1996 - 20.01.1996 8d 22h 01m
3 STS-92 MSP 11.10.2000 - 24.10.2000 12d 21h 43m
4 Soyuz TMA-5 / ISS-10 ISS-CDR 14.10.2004 - 24.04.2005 192d 19h 02m
Total 229d 08h 41m
