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Kevin Ford
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Photo: NASA
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Kevin Anthony Ford was born on July 7, 1960 in Portland, Indiana. He considers Montpelier, Indiana his home town.
Ford graduated from Blackford High School, Hartford City, Indiana, in 1978 and went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1982. He also has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Troy State University (1982) and a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida (1994). Ford has a Ph.D. in Astronautical Engineering that he was awarded from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1997, He is a graduate of the Squadron Officer School, the Air Command and Staff College Associate Program and Air War College. Kevin Ford was commissioned as a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1982 and underwent primary Air Force Jet Training at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi in 1984. |
Ford trained in the F-15 Eagle and was transferred to the to the 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at the Bitburg Air Base, Germany where he was stationed from 1984 through ’87. Afterwards he was assigned to the 57th Fighter Intercept Squadron at Keflavik Naval Air Station, Iceland until 1989, intercepting and escorting 18 Soviet Combat Aircraft over the North Atlantic.
He spent 1990 as a student at the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Later, Ford flew test missions on the F-16 Fighting Falcon as part of the 3247th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base from 1991 to 1994. There, Ford also completed multiple F-16 flutter missions, he contributed to the development of the ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispenser System including multiple safe separation ballistics and fuse tests, air-to-air missile development testing, and the first AMRAAM shot from the F-16 Air Defense Fighter Variant. Then, he completed a 3-year assignment as a doctoral candidate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Later, Ford served as the Director of Plans and Programs at the Air Force Test Pilot School. There, he taught academics and instructed students on flight techniques in the F-15, F-16 and gliders.
In total, Ford has completed 4700 hours of flight time on a variety of aircraft. He holds FAA commercial certificates for airplanes, helicopters and gliders. For airplanes and gliders, he is also a certified flight instructor. In June 2008, Colonel Ford retired from active duty military service.
He spent 1990 as a student at the United States Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Later, Ford flew test missions on the F-16 Fighting Falcon as part of the 3247th Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base from 1991 to 1994. There, Ford also completed multiple F-16 flutter missions, he contributed to the development of the ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispenser System including multiple safe separation ballistics and fuse tests, air-to-air missile development testing, and the first AMRAAM shot from the F-16 Air Defense Fighter Variant. Then, he completed a 3-year assignment as a doctoral candidate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Later, Ford served as the Director of Plans and Programs at the Air Force Test Pilot School. There, he taught academics and instructed students on flight techniques in the F-15, F-16 and gliders.
In total, Ford has completed 4700 hours of flight time on a variety of aircraft. He holds FAA commercial certificates for airplanes, helicopters and gliders. For airplanes and gliders, he is also a certified flight instructor. In June 2008, Colonel Ford retired from active duty military service.
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Kevin Ford was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in August 2000 and completed two years of training and evaluation before he was assigned to technical duties within the NASA Astronaut Office. As part of this job, he worked on advanced exploration issues and on the development and testing of the Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade.
Ford served as Director of Operations at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia in 2004 before going back to Houston to work as a Space Shuttle and International Space Station CAPCOM inside Mission Control from 2005 to mid-2008. In 2009, Ford made his first Space Flight as the Pilot of Space Shuttle Mission STS-128 to the International Space Station. Space Shuttle Discovery launched on this Mission, also referred to as ISS Construction Mission 17A, on August 28, 2009 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After two days of of free flight, Discovery arrived at the Space Station for a busy resupply Mission. The Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module was the main payload of this flight. It was attached to the Space Station to deliver a total of 12,480 Kilograms of internal supplies to the Station. Notable items delivered via Leonardo are the COLBERT Treadmill, three life-support system racks, a crew quarters for the Kibo Module and the Node 3 Air Revitalization System. A total of 7,379 Kilograms of hardware were returned from ISS inside the MPLM. In addition to the busy resupply mission, the crew carried out three spacewalks, to remove and replace an Ammonia Tank Assembly, retrieve external ISS Experiments, install GPS antennas and a new Rate Gyro Assembly, route a number of cables and perform outfitting of the ISS Robotic Arm. The flight also served as Crew Rotation flight, bringing Nicole Stott to ISS for her long duration mission and return Tim Kopra to Earth. Discovery landed on September 11, 2012 at Edwards Air Force Base. In total, Kevin Ford has logged 13 days 20 hours and 54 minutes in Space during his single Shuttle Flight. |
Photo: NASA
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Afterwards, he worked inside the ISS Program and started training for a long-duration mission. He was selected to serve as a Soyuz Flight Engineer and as a Flight Engineer during ISS Expedition 33 launching in October 2012 before becoming the ISS Expedition 34 Commander.
Kevin Ford is married to the former Kelly Bennet. They have two children, Anthony and Heidi.
Kevin Ford is married to the former Kelly Bennet. They have two children, Anthony and Heidi.
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