RICHARD A. SEARFOSS (COLONEL, USAF, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)

PERSONAL DATA: Born June 5, 1956, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, Died on Sept. 

29, 2018. He is survived by his wife and three children. He enjoyed running, soccer, 

radio-controlled model aircraft, Scouting, backpacking, and classical music.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Portsmouth Senior High School, Portsmouth, New 

Hampshire in 1974; received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering 

from the USAF Academy in 1978, and a Master of Science degree in aeronautics from the 

California Institute of Technology on a National Science Foundation Fellowship in 1979. 

USAF Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Air War College.

ORGANIZATIONS: Association of Space Explorers, National Eagle Scout Association, 

Air Force Association, Academy of Model Aeronautics.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Harmon, Fairchild, Price and Tober Awards (top overall, academic, engineering, and 

aeronautical engineering graduate), United States Air Force Academy Class of 1978. Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory 

Excellence in Turbine Engine Design award. USAF Squadron Officer's School Commandant's Trophy as top graduate. 

Distinguished graduate, USAF Fighter Weapons School. Named the Tactical Air Command F-111 Instructor Pilot of the Year, 

1985. Selected for Outstanding Young Men of America, 1987. Recipient of the Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force 

Meritorious Service Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, NASA Spaceflight Medal (3), 

NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross.

EXPERIENCE: Searfoss graduated in 1980 from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. From 

1981-1984, he flew the F-111F operationally at RAF Lakenheath, England, followed by a tour at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, 

where he was an F-111A instructor pilot and weapons officer until 1987. In 1988 he attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, 

Patuxent River, Maryland, as a USAF exchange officer. He was a flight instructor at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at 

Edwards AFB, California, when selected for the astronaut program. 

He has logged over 5,000 hours flying time in 56 different types of aircraft and over 939 hours in space. He also holds FAA 

Airline Transport Pilot, glider, and flight instructor ratings.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1990, Searfoss became an astronaut in July 1991. Initially assigned to the 

Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch, Searfoss was part of a team responsible for crew ingress/strap-in prior to launch and 

crew egress after landing. He was subsequently assigned to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration

Laboratory (SAIL). Additionally, he served as the Astronaut Office representative for both flight crew procedures and Shuttle 

computer software development. He also served as the Astronaut Office Vehicle System and Operations Branch Chief, leading a 

team of several astronauts and support engineers working on Shuttle and International Space Station systems development, 

rendezvous and landing/rollout operations, and advanced projects initiatives. A veteran of three space flights, Searfoss has logged 

over 39 days in space. He served as pilot on STS-58 (October 18 to November 1, 1993) and STS-76 (March 22-31, 1996), and 

was the mission commander on STS-90 (April 17, to May 3, 1998). Searfoss retired from the Air Force and left NASA in 1998. 

For the next few years he worked in private industry and was a research test pilot at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. In 

February 2003, Searfoss left Dryden to pursue private business interests.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: Searfoss served as STS-58 pilot on the seven-person life science research mission aboard the 

Space Shuttle Columbia, launching from the Kennedy Space Center on October 18, 1993, and landing at Edwards Air Force Base 

on November 1, 1993. The crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal 

medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding our knowledge of human and animal physiology both on earth and in 

space flight. In addition, the crew performed 16 engineering tests aboard the Orbiter Columbia and 20 Extended Duration Orbiter 

Medical Project experiments. The mission was accomplished in 225 orbits of the Earth.

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Ocotber 2018

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058
Launching March 22, 1996, Searfoss flew his second mission as pilot of STS-76 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. During this 9-

day mission the STS-76 crew performed the third docking of an American spacecraft with the Russian space station Mir. In 

support of a joint U.S./Russian program, the crew transported to Mir nearly two tons of water, food, supplies, and scientific

equipment, as well as U.S. Astronaut Shannon Lucid to begin her six-month stay in space. STS-76 included the first ever 

spacewalk on a combined Space Shuttle-Space Station complex. The flight crew also conducted scientific investigations, 

including European Space Agency sponsored biology experiments, the Kidsat earth observations project, and several engineering 

flight tests. Completed in 145 orbits, STS-76 landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on March 31, 1996.

Searfoss commanded a seven person crew on the STS-90 Neurolab mission which launched on April 17, 1998. During the 

16-day Spacelab flight the crew served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life science experiments 

focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system. STS-90 was the last and most complex of the twenty-five 

Spacelab missions NASA has flown. Neurolab's scientific results will have broad applicability both in preparing for future long 

duration human space missions and in clinical applications on Earth. Completed in 256 orbits, STS-90 landed at Kennedy Space 

Center, Florida, on May 3, 1998.