1. Clayton Conrad Anderson was born on February 23,1959 and is a retired NASA astronaut.
16 Facts About Clayton Anderson
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Clayton Anderson is currently an author, a motivational speaker, and a Professor of Practice at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
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Clayton Anderson served as an ISS Capsule Communicator and as the Astronaut Office crew representative for the Station's electrical power system.
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In November 2002, Clayton Anderson completed training in the Extravehicular Activity Skills program.
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Clayton Anderson was back-up flight engineer for Expedition 12, Expedition 13 and Expedition 14 to the International Space Station.
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Clayton Anderson served as an astronaut family escort for the STS-107 mission at the request of Rick Husband.
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In June 2003, Clayton Anderson served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 5 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for fourteen days.
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Clayton Anderson was a mission specialist on STS-131, launched in April 2010.
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Clayton Anderson was a member of the Expedition 15 crew and spent 152 days on board the International Space Station.
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Clayton Anderson launched to the station aboard Shuttle Atlantis as mission specialist 5 for the STS-117 mission on June 8,2007, and remained on board as a member of the Expedition 16 crew before returning to earth aboard Discovery on mission STS-120 on November 7,2007.
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Clayton Anderson continued a tradition aboard the International Space Station, started by Michael Lopez-Alegria, of conducting daily "trivia" contests with mission control team members on the ground.
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Clayton Anderson has taken this tradition and put his own personal twist on it, using the "Book of Answers: The New York Public Library Telephone Reference Service's Most Unusual and Entertaining Questions".
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Clayton Anderson often played song clips for the ground control team, or specific individuals, most notably when he played the song " I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams for his wife on her birthday.
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Clayton Anderson was born in Omaha but considers Ashland, Nebraska to be his hometown.
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Clayton Anderson is the first and only astronaut from Nebraska and was widely reported in news media as the astronaut rejected fourteen times by NASA before being accepted in 1998.
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Clayton Anderson eventually retired from NASA in January 2013 after serving fifteen years and is in education.