John L . Phillips John Lynch Phillips , PhD ( born April 15 , 1951 ) is a NASA astronaut . Phillips is also a retired Captain of the United States Navy Reserve . Phillips has received numerous awards and special honors . He is a National Merit Scholar , graduated 2nd in his class of 906 people at the U . S . Naval Academy in 1972 . Phillips has also been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal , NASA Distinguished Service Medal , the Gagarin Medal and several others . Phillips has logged over 4 , 400 flight hours and 250 aircraft carrier landings , flying an A - 7 during his time as a Navy reservist from 1982 to 2002 . At the time of his retirement , Phillips had retained the rank of Captain . Biography . Born April 15 , 1951 in Fort Belvoir , Virginia , but considers Scottsdale , Arizona to be his hometown . He is married to the former Laura Jean Doell of Scotia , New York . They have two children . Graduated from Scottsdale High School , Scottsdale , Arizona , in 1966 ; received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and Russian from the U . S . Naval Academy in 1972 ; a master of science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida in 1974 ; a master of science degree and a doctorate in geophysics and space physics from the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ) in 1984 and 1987 respectively . A National Merit Scholar ; he graduated second of 906 in the class of 1972 at U . S . Naval Academy ; received 2 NASA Group Achievement Awards for contributions to the Ulysses Spacecraft Mission and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Distinguished Performance Award in 1996 . Awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal and various military awards . Phillips received a navy commission upon graduation from the U . S . Naval Academy in 1972 and was designated a Naval Aviator in November 1974 . He trained in the A - 7 Corsair aircraft at Naval Air Station Lemoore , California and made overseas deployment with Attack Squadron 155 aboard the " Oriskany " ( CV - 34 ) and " Roosevelt " ( CV - 42 ) . Subsequent tours of duty included navy recruiting in Albany , New York , and flying the CT - 39 Sabreliner aircraft at Naval Air Station North Island , California . After leaving the Navy in 1982 , Phillips enrolled as a graduate student at UCLA . While at UCLA he carried out research involving observations by the NASA Pioneer Venus Spacecraft . Upon completing his doctorate in 1987 , he was awarded a J . Robert Oppenheimer Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico . He accepted a career position at Los Alamos in 1989 . While there , Phillips performed research on the sun and the space environment . From 1993 through 1996 he was Principal Investigator for the Solar Wind Plasma Experiment aboard the Ulysses Spacecraft as it executed a unique trajectory over the poles of the sun . He has authored 156 scientific papers dealing with the plasma environments of the sun , earth , other planets , comets and spacecraft . Phillips has logged over 4 , 400 flight hours and 250 carrier landings . He has been a Navy reservist since 1982 , serving as an A - 7 pilot , and in various non - flying assignments . He holds the rank of Captain , USNR . NASA . Selected by NASA in April 1996 , Phillips reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996 . After completing astronaut candidate training , he held various jobs in the Astronaut Office , including systems engineering and CAPCOM for the International Space Station ( ISS ) . He served as a backup crew - member for ISS Expedition 7 Spaceflight experience . STS - 100 ( Space Shuttle Endeavour , April 19 to May 1 , 2001 ) . STS - 100 was a 12 - day mission to the ISS . During the mission , the crew successfully delivered and installed the Canadarm2 Robotic Arm . They also delivered experiments and supplies aboard the Multi - Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello on its maiden flight . Phillips was the Ascent / Entry Flight engineer and was the intravehicular activity coordinator during two space walks . Expedition 11 ( April 15 to October 11 , 2005 ) . Expedition 11 was a six - month mission to the ISS . On April 15 , 2005 , Phillips , along with his fellow crew - members Sergei Krikalev , and Roberto Vittori launched to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA - 6 . On June 14 , 2005 , Phillips became the first person ever to testify before congress from the ISS , or outer space in general . He gave testimony to the United States House of Representatives Science Space Subcommittee via a live video feed . The hearing was to evaluate the space station ' s usefulness as an orbiting laboratory . On August 18 , 2005 , Phillips and Krikalev completed a five - hour spacewalk to retrieve several experiments and install a video camera for the new docking procedure . Phillips and Krikalev , along with Space Flight Participant Gregory Olsen , returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA - 6 on October 11 , 2005 . STS - 119 ( Space Shuttle Discovery , March 15 to March 28 , 2009 ) . STS - 119 was a 12 day mission to the ISS flown during March 2009 . It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment ( S6 ) , and the fourth set of solar arrays and batteries to the station . The launch took place on March 15 , 2009 . Discovery successfully landed on March 28 , 2009 . Phillips was detailed to the U . S . Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey , CA , from 2009 to 2011 as the Smith / McCool NASA Chair Professor .