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ACABA Joseph Michael

Astronaut, NASA, USA

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
May 17, 1967, Inglewood, California.
Father: Ralph Acaba.
Mother: Elsie Acaba.

EDUCATION:
In 1985 he graduated from Esperanza High School, Anaheim, California.
In 1990 Acaba received a Bachelor of Science (geology) from University of California in Santa Barbara.
In 1992 he received a Master of Science (geology) from University of Arizona.

FAMILY STATUS: married. He has three children.

HOBBY:
Tourism, cycle racing, kayaking, diving.

WORK EXPERIENCE:
Worked as a hydro-geologist in Los Angeles, California, and was involved in the solution of problems related to groundwater contaminants.
As an Environmental Education Awareness Promoter he spent 2 years in the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.
He had one year of high school science teaching experience at Melbourne High School, Florida.
Since 1998 he had middle school math and science teaching experience (astronomy of primary classes) at Dunnellon Middle School, Florida.
On May 6, 2004 he was enlisted in the Astronaut Corps, NASA, within the 19-th selection as a candidate for the mission specialist under program "Teacher in space".
He passed examinations and interlocution at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center within the 5-th finalist team since November 16, 2003.
From June 2004 to February 2006 Acaba passed training at Johnson Space Center. On February 10, 2006 upon completion of his training he received qualification as a mission specialist-teacher and was assigned to the Space Station Branch of the Astronaut Office, Johnson Space Center.
In October 2007 it was announced that Acaba was assigned as a mission specialist to the crew of Shuttle STS-119.

He performed his first flight at a period of March 16 - 28, 2009 as a mission specialist of Discovery STS-119.
During the flight he performed two walks into open space, namely on March 21 - of the duration of 6 hr 30 min and on March 23 - of the duration of 6 hr 27 min.
The mission duration was 12 days 19 hr 29 min.

On November 11, 2009 unofficial messages concerning his assignment to the prime crew of Expedition-31/32 to the ISS ISS-31/32 Expedition and the start of the preflight processing appeared. On July 8, 2010 his assignment was officially confirmed by NASA in press-release 10-161.
In January 2011 he took part in trainings for survival in the forest near Moscow as a member of the preliminary crew together with Gennadiy Padalka and Alexei Khomenchuk.

On August 22, 2011 at the meeting of State Medical Board (SMB) at Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC) he was recognized fit to a space flight as the Soyuz TMA-22 backup crew flight engineer.
On September 1, 2011 at the Cosmonaut Training Center Acaba together with Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin passed the examination training on the Soyuz TMA simulator. On September 2, 2011 the crew passed the preflight examination training on the ISS Russian Segment.
On November 12, 2011 he was approved as the Soyuz TMA-22 MTV backup crew flight engineer.
On November 14, 2011 during the Soyuz TMA-22 MTV launch Acaba was the vehicle flight engineer backup.

April 2012.
Based on data of sites www.astronaut.ru and www.nasa.gov.