Michael López - Alegría Miguel López - Alegría ( born May 30 , 1958 ) is a Spanish - American astronaut ; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission . He is known for having performed ten spacewalks so far in his career , presently holding the second longest all - time EVA duration record and having the longest spaceflight of any American at the length of 215 days ; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18 , 2006 to April 21 , 2007 . Background . López - Alegría was born in Madrid , Spain and raised in Mission Viejo , California . López - Alegría joined the United States Navy , where he earned a bachelor of science degree in systems engineering in 1980 from the United States Naval Academy , and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1988 from the Naval Postgraduate School . Designated a Naval Aviator in 1981 , his fleet experience in the Navy was at Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 2 ( VQ - 2 ) in Rota , Spain , and the U . S . Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River , Maryland . A natural leader , he was the top Lieutenant of 60 in the second largest aviation wardroom in the Navy ( 105 officers ) . He made many connections with Spanish military and civilian personnel while in Spain during his first tour that have made him very popular and well known in Spanish media . He was one of the few EP - 3E pilots in the squadron to get flying time in the EA - 3B Skywarrior . He is a graduate of Harvard University ' s Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security . He is fluent in English , Spanish , French and Russian . His son Nicolas starred alongside López - Alegría in 2006 in Mira La Luna ( directed by Eduard Bosch ) . A second documentary , directed by Manuel Huerga , Son And Moon , was released in Spanish theaters in 2009 featuring astronauts Mikhail Tyurin , Sunita Williams and himself . Mission record . López - Alegría ' s first space mission was STS - 73 in 1995 ; for several years afterwards he led NASA ' s International Space Station ( ISS ) Crew Operations office before returning to space aboard STS - 92 in 2000 and STS - 113 in 2002 . During flight STS - 92 , he tested the SAFER jet backpack with fellow astronaut Jeff Wisoff , flying up to 50 feet from the spacecraft . López - Alegría served as an aquanaut on the first NEEMO ( NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations ) crew aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory in October 2001 . On 19 September 2006 López - Alegría docked with the ISS as Commander of Expedition 14 , having taken off from Baikonur , Kazakhstan on 18 September , onboard Soyuz TMA - 9 . On Expedition 14 , he performed five spacewalks . On 21 April 2007 he undocked from the ISS and returned to Earth . López - Alegría holds the all time American record for number of EVAs ( 10 ) and total EVA duration ( 67 hours and 40 minutes ) . The previous record holder , Jerry L . Ross had a total of 9 EVAs with a duration of 58 hours and 18 minutes . López - Alegría is the second most experienced spacewalker overall , behind Russia ' s Anatoly Solovyev . On April 2 , 2007 , López - Alegría set the record for the longest space mission of any American astronaut . When he landed on April 21 , his time in space on a single mission was 215 days . ( The longest space mission on record is that of Valeriy Polyakov , who spent 437 days aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1994 and 1995 . ) Promotional activities and current assignment . On October 19 , 2007 , López - Alegría visited his old high school Mission Viejo High School , where he told the students about his space travel expedition . López - Alegría currently serves as Flight Crew Operations Directorate Assistant Director for ISS . He is the primary interface ( at the directorate level ) to the ISS Program and works closely with the Astronaut Office EVA Branch and ISS Operations Branch . List of EVAs . At the end of his mission , he commanded the longest flight by a Soyuz spacecraft , making Expedition 14 the longest expedition thus far . López - Alegría broke the record for longest spaceflight by an American astronaut . Retirement . López - Alegría retired from NASA on March 12 , 2012 to become President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation . External links .