NASA Astronaut to Deliver Commencement Address at Alma Mater

NASA astronaut Michael E. Fossum will deliver the commencement address for the 100th graduation ceremony at McAllen High School at 7 p.m. CDT Saturday, June 1. The graduation ceremony will take place at the McAllen Convention Center, 700 Convention Center Blvd., McAllen, Texas.

Fossum, a 1976 graduate of McAllen High School, is a veteran of three spaceflights. He spent 194 days in space and performed seven spacewalks on two space shuttle missions and one long-duration mission to the International Space Station. He ranks seventh on the all-time list for cumulative spacewalking time.

He was raised in McAllen and graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station. He received master’s degrees from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio and the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Before his NASA career, Fossum served as a flight test engineer and flight test manager in the U.S. Air Force.

For information about this appearance, contact Dana Davis, publicist, Astronaut Appearances Office, 281-244-0933, or Norma Zamora-Guerra, Community Information Director, McAllen Independent School District, 956-618-6023.

For more information about Fossum, visit: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/fossum.html

Or, follow Fossum on Twitter at: @astro_aggie