Foale, (Colin) Michael (1957- )

English-born US astronaut. He has had five space missions. In 1995 he flew on the space shuttle Discovery mission that made the first rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir, and in 1997 he spent 134 days on Mir, helping to carry out repairs and maintenance to the mechanical systems. In December 1999 he served on the Discovery mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope. He was a member of the fifth resident crew on the International Space Station, being launched on Soyuz TMA-3 on 18 October 2003 for a six-month stay. Foale joined NASA in 1983 as a payload officer at the Johnson Space Center and was selected as an astronaut in 1987.