Leroy Chiao
Former NASA Commander and Science Officer of the 10th mission
to the International Space Station left the agency in late
October and now serves as a consultant, motivational speaker,
and leadership and crisis management trainer. During his
fifteen year career at NASA, Leroy Chiao, Ph.D., logged over
229 days in space - over 36 hours of which were spent in
EVA spacewalks.
Dr. Chiao led a successful, high-profile career as an astronaut
and now brings an abundance of diverse technical knowledge
and experience in areas of spacecraft, space station, and
general space operations to areas of his consulting work.
His previous roles as Space Station Commander, Space Station
Science Officer and Space Shuttle Mission Specialist uniquely
qualify him as an expert in the field of leadership training
and crisis management.
Dr. Chiao attended the University of California, Berkley
where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical
Engineering in 1983. He then transferred to the University
of California at Santa Barbara where he completed his Masters
of Science degree in 1985, obtaining his Doctorate in Chemical
Engineering just two years later. After his graduation in
1987, Dr. Leroy Chiao accepted a position with the Hexcel
Corporation in Dublin, California. Chiao worked for Hexcel
on advanced aerospace materials where he was involved in
process, manufacturing, and engineering research. During
his employment with Hexcel Corporation, Dr. Chiao worked
on a NASA-JPL/Hexcel joint project development for future
space telescopes, as well as working on cure modeling and
finite element analysis.
Guided by his passion for aeronautical science, Dr. Chiao
joined the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore,
California in 1989 where he endeavored in processing research
for fabrication of filament-wound and thick-section aerospace
composites. At Lawrence Livermore, Dr. Chiao also successfully
developed a mechanistic cure model for graphite fiber/epoxy
composite material.
In January of 1990, Dr. Chiao was recruited by NASA, becoming
an astronaut one year later. While working for NASA, Dr.
Chiao was the recipient of numerous spaceflight-related awards
and medals. He logged over 229 days in space, including more
than 36 hours in spacewalks, referred to as Extra Vehicular
Activity (EVA). Although his native language is English,
Dr. Chiao is fluent in both Russian and Mandarin Chinese
as well. He is a specialist in all facets of US and Russian
EVA hardware and operations and is EVA-certified in US and
Russian spacesuits, tools, and training programs.
Dr. Chiao has flown aboard four space missions. He served
as Commander of his last mission, Expedition-10, where he
spent six months aboard the International Space Station.
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