page_title: Ronald J. Garan Jr.
section_title: NASA career
hierarchical_section_title: Ronald J. Garan Jr. / NASA career
caption_attribution_description: English: Astronaut Ron Garan, STS-124 mission specialist, participates in the mission's first scheduled session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station. During the six-hour, 48-minute spacewalk, Garan and astronaut Mike Fossum (out of frame), mission specialist, loosened restraints holding the Orbiter Boom Sensor System in its temporary stowage location on the space station's starboard truss, prepared the Kibo Japanese Pressurized Module for its installation to the space station, demonstrated cleaning techniques for the Solar Alpha Rotary Joint's (SARJ) race ring, and installed a replacement SARJ Trundle Bearing Assembly.
context_page_description: Ronald John Garan Jr. is a NASA astronaut. After graduating from State University of New York College at Oneonta in 1982, he joined the Air Force, becoming a Second Lieutenant in 1984. He became an F-16 pilot, and flew combat missions in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Before becoming an astronaut he was the Operations Officer of the 40th Flight Test Squadron. He first flew in space as a Mission Specialist on the STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. He returned to ISS on April 4, 2011, for a six-month stay as a member of Expedition 27.
context_section_description: Selected as a pilot by NASA in July 2000, Colonel Garan reported for training in August 2000. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station and Shuttle Operations Branches.
  In April 2006, Garan became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NEEMO 9 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. During this eighteen-day mission, the six-person crew of NEEMO 9 developed lunar surface exploration procedures and telemedical technology applications in support of the United States' Vision for Space Exploration.  Ron Garan completed his first space flight in 2008 on STS-124 as Mission Specialist 2 for ascent and entry, and has logged over 13 days in space and 27 hours and 3 minutes of EVA in four spacewalks.
caption: Garan participates in the first spacewalk of the STS-124 mission.
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