Michael Anderson’s Education
Michael Anderson was born on December 25, 1959, in Plattsburgh, New York. Anderson's father was in the Air Force, so he grew up on military bases. After finishing high school, Anderson began attending the University of Washington. In 1981, he received his B.S. degree in physics and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He completed a year of technical training at Keesler AFB in Mississippi. He moved on to Randolph AFB in Texas, where he was the Chief of Communication Maintenance for the 2015 Communication Squadron.
In 1986, Anderson began attending the Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB in Oklahoma. After graduation, he served as an EC 135 pilot for the Second Airborne Command and Control Squadron. In 1990, Anderson received his masters in physics from Creighton University.
Michael Anderson Joins NASA
In 1994, Anderson was selected by NASA. Upon completing a year of training, he became qualified for flight crew assignment as a mission specialist. In 1998, he traveled on the STS-89 to Russia's Mir space station. The objective of the mission was to transfer scientific equipment and logistical hardware to the Shuttle-Mir.
On February 1, 2003, Michael Anderson’s short career as an astronaut ended. He was one of seven astronauts who died aboard the shuttle Columbia 16 minutes prior to its landing in Florida. Anderson served as the payload commander, and as such, he was charged with conducting scientific experiments in search of a cure for prostate cancer. Michael Anderson was one of only a handful of African American astronauts.
