National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058
Biographical Data

Rex J. Walheim (Colonel, USAF)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA: Born October 10, 1962, in Redwood City, California, but considers San Carlos, California his hometown. Married to the former Margie Dotson of Villa Park, California. They have two children. He enjoys snow skiing, hiking, softball and football. His father, Lawrence M. Walheim, Jr., resides in Exeter, California. His mother, Avis L. Walheim is deceased.

EDUCATION: Graduated from San Carlos High School, San Carlos, California in 1980; received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984, and a master of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston in 1989.

SPECIAL HONORS: Distinguished Graduate, Reserve Officers Training Corps, University of California, Berkeley. Distinguished Graduate and top flight test engineer in USAF Test Pilot School Class 92A. Defense Meritorious Service Medal, 2 Meritorious Service Medals, Aerial Achievement Medal, and various service awards.

EXPERIENCE: Walheim was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in May 1984. In April of 1985 he was assigned to Cavalier Air Force Station in Cavalier, North Dakota, where he worked as a missile warning operations crew commander. In October 1986, he was reassigned to the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, where he worked as a mechanical systems flight controller and was the lead operations engineer for the Space Shuttle landing gear, brakes, and emergency runway barrier. Walheim was transferred to Headquarters Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in August 1989, where he was manager of a program upgrading missile warning radars. He was selected for the flight test engineer course at USAF Test Pilot School in 1991, and attended the course at Edwards AFB California in 1992. Following his graduation, he was assigned to the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards where he was a project manager, and then commander of the avionics and armament flight. In January 1996, Walheim became an instructor at USAF Test Pilot School, where he served until he commenced astronaut training.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Walheim served as a flight controller and operations engineer at the Johnson Space Center from October 1986 to January 1989. He was selected by NASA in March 1996 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. After completing two years of training and evaluation, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Walheim has been assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch, where he helped develop the initial procedures and displays used on the space station, he served as a Capcom in the Mission Control Center, and was also assigned to the EVA branch, where he served as the astronaut office representative for the Extra Vehicular Mobility Unit, (the EVA spacesuit). A veteran of two space flights, he has logged over 565 hours in space, including over 36 EVA hours in five spacewalks. Walheim served on the EVA crew of STS-110 in 2002, and STS-122 in 2008.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-110 Atlantis (April 8-19, 2002) was the 13 th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. Mission milestones included: the delivery and installation of the SO (S-Zero) Truss; the first time the station’s robotic arm was used to maneuver spacewalkers around the station; and the first time that all of a shuttle crew’s spacewalks were based from the station’s Quest Airlock. Walheim performed 2 EVAs totaling 14 hours and 5 minutes. The crew mechanically attached and powered up the new truss, and spent a week in joint operations with the station’s Expedition-4 crew. Mission duration was 10 days, 19 hours and 42 minutes.

STS-122 Atlantis (February 7-20, 2008) was the 24 th Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. Mission highlight was the delivery and installation of the European Space Agency’s Columbus Laboratory. Walheim performed three spacewalks to help prepare the Columbus Laboratory for its scientific work, and to replace an expended nitrogen tank on the Station’s P-1 Truss. STS-122 was also a crew replacement mission, delivering Expedition-16 Flight Engineer, ESA Astronaut Léopold Eyharts, and returning home with Expedition-16 Flight Engineer, NASA Astronaut Daniel Tani. The STS-122 mission was accomplished in 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds, and traveled 5,296,832 statute miles in 203 Earth orbits

MARCH 2008