Background
Ferguson, Christopher J. was born on September 1, 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Ferguson, Christopher J. was born on September 1, 1961 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Chris Ferguson was born September 1, 1961, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Archbishop Ryan High School, from which he graduated in 1979. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from in 1984, and earned his Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States. Naval Postgraduate School in 1991.
He was the pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis on his first mission to space, STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006 and returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. He then commanded STS-126 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. In 2011, he was assigned as commander of STS-135, which was the final mission of the space shuttle program
On December 9, 2011, he retired from National Aeronautics and Space Administration and is now currently director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing"s Commercial Crew Program.
Education
Military career
Chris was commissioned from the Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps program at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Naval Aviator wings in National Academy of Sciences, USA Kingsville, Texas in 1986 and was ordered to the F-14 Tomcat training squadron in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
After a brief period of instruction, he joined the ‘Red Rippers’ of VF-11 deploying to the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean on board the aircraft carrier United States Ship Forrestal. While with VF-11, he also attended the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN).
He was selected for the United States Naval Test Pilot School program in 1989 and graduated in 1992.
Through June 1994 he was assigned to the Weapons Branch of the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland where he served as the project officer for the F-14D weapon separation program, becoming the first pilot to release several types of air-to-ground weapons from the Tomcat. He served one year as an instructor at the Naval Test Pilot School before joining the ‘Checkmates’ of VF-211 in 1995 and completing a deployment to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf in defense of the Iraqi no-fly zone on board United States Ship Nimitz. He briefly served as an F-14 logistics officer for the Atlantic Fleet prior to his selection to the space program
National Aeronautics and Space Administration career
Chris served as CAPCOM for the STS-118 mission.
He also served as CAPCOM for the STS-128 and STS-129 missions. Post-National Aeronautics and Space Administration career
Chris currently works for Boeing as director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.
Personal Chris, who is of Scottish and Polish descent, is married to Sandra and has three children.
Member of Society Experimental Test Pilots.
Son of Norman (Stepfather) and Mary Ann Pietras. Married Sandra A. Cabot. 3 children.