Michael A. Baker

Did You Know?

• Baker achieved the rank of Life Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
• He was a member of the Tejas Club at the University of Texas.
• He has two children.

Naval service

After graduation, Baker completed flight training and received his Wings of Gold as a Naval Aviator at Naval Air Station Chase Field, Beeville, Texas, in 1977. He was assigned to Attack Squadron 56 on the USS Midway, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, flying the A-7 Corsair II. In late 1980 he became the Air Wing Landing Signal Officer for Carrier Air Wing 30. He attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1981, then conducted carrier suitability structural tests, catapult and arresting gear certification, and automatic landing system tests on Navy carriers. He returned as an instructor at the Test Pilot School in 1983, later serving as a U.S. Navy exchange instructor at the Empire Test Pilots' School in England. Baker logged over 5,400 flight hours in about 50 aircraft types and accumulated more than 300 carrier landings.

NASA

Selected by NASA in June 1985, Baker became an astronaut in July 1986 after a one-year training program. Following the Challenger accident, from January 1986 to December 1987 he worked on redesigning the Shuttle Landing and Deceleration Systems, including nosewheel steering, brakes, tires, and drag chute. He then verified computer software and hardware interfaces for STS-26 and later flights in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. Baker served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) for eleven Shuttle missions, handling communication with crews and procedural issues. He led the Astronaut Support Personnel team at Kennedy Space Center for three missions and was the Flight Crew Operations Directorate Representative to the Space Shuttle Program Office from December 1992 to January 1994.