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Carlos I. Noriega (Lieutenant Colonel, USMC,
Ret.)

NASA Astronaut

==Personal data==
Born October 8, 1959, in Lima, Peru. Considers
Santa Clara, California, to be his hometown.
Married to the former Wendy L. Thatcher. They have
five children. He enjoys flying, running, snow
skiing, racquetball, and spending time with his
children. His parents, Rodolfo and Nora Noriega,
reside in Gilbert, Arizona. Her parents, John and
Elizabeth Thatcher, reside in Honolulu, Hawaii.

==Education==
* 1977: Graduated from Adrian C. Wilcox High
School|Wilcox High School, Santa Clara, California
* 1981: Bachelor of science degree in computer
science from University of Southern California
* 1990: Master of science degree in computer
science from the Naval Postgraduate School
* 1990: Master of science degree in space systems
operations from the Naval Postgraduate School,
1990.

==Special honors==
* Defense Superior Service Medal
* Defense Meritorious Service Medal
* Air Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device
* Air Medal (Strike Flight Award)
* Navy Achievement Medal
* NASA Space Flight Medal

==Experience==
Noriega was a member of the United States
Navy|Navy ROTC unit and received his commission in
the United States Marine Corps at the University
of Southern California in 1981. Following
graduation from flight school, he flew CH-46 Sea
Knight helicopters with HMM-165 from 1983 to 1985
at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Kaneohe Bay,
Hawaii. Noriega made two 6-month shipboard
deployments in the West Pacific/Indian Ocean
including operations in support of the
Multi-National Peacekeeping Force in Beirut,
Lebanon. He completed his tour in Hawaii as the
Base Operations Officer for Marine Air Base
Squadron 24. In 1986, he was transferred to MCAS
Tustin, California, where he served as the
aviation safety officer and instructor pilot with
HMT-301. In 1988, Noriega was selected to attend
the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California, where he earned two master of science
degrees. Upon graduation in September 1990, he was
assigned to United States Space Command in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to serving
as a Space Surveillance Center Commander, he was
responsible for several software development
projects and was ultimately the command
representative for the development and integration
of the major space and missile warning computer
system upgrades for Cheyenne Mountain Air Force
Base. At the time of his selection, he was serving
on the staff of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in
Okinawa, Japan.

He has logged approximately 2,200 flight hours in
various fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft.

==NASA experience==
Selected by NASA in December 1994, Noriega
reported to the Johnson Space Center in March
1995. He completed a year of training and
evaluation, and was qualified for assignment as a
mission specialist in May 1996. He held technical
assignments in the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics
and Operations Planning Branches. Noriega flew on
STS-84 in 1997 and STS-97 in 2000. He has logged
over 461 hours in space including over 19 EVA
hours in 3 space walks. Following STS-97 Noriega
trained as the backup commander for Expedition
Six. He was scheduled to be on the crew for
STS-121 but his place has been taken by Piers
Sellers.

==Space flight experience==
STS-84 (May 15-May 24|24, 1997), was NASA's sixth
Space Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with
the Russian Space Station Mir. During this 9-day
mission the crew aboard Space Shuttle Space
Shuttle Atlantis|Atlantis conducted a number of
secondary experiments, and transferred nearly 4
tons of supplies and experiment equipment between
Atlantis and the Mir station. During STS-84
Noriega logged a total of 221 hours and 20 minutes
in space traveling 3.6 million miles in 144 orbits
of the Earth.

STS-97 Space Shuttle Endeavour|Endeavour (November
30 to December 11, 2000) was the fifth Space
Shuttle mission dedicated to the assembly of the
International Space Station. While docked to the
Station, the crew installed the first set of U.S.
solar arrays, performed three space walks, in
addition to delivering supplies and equipment to
the station’s first resident crew. Mission
duration was 10 days, 19 hours, 57 minutes, and
traveled 4.47 million miles.

FEBRUARY 2004 

Source:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/noriega.html

NASA