Michael Lounge

John Michael Lounge is Director of Business Development for Constellation, Space Exploration. He leads business development pursuit teams for NASA Constellation program elements. Prior to joining Boeing in 2002, Lounge was a Senior Vice President with SPACEHAB, Inc. In his 10 years with SPACEHAB he had primary responsibility for flight hardware development in support of the company’s commercial initiatives. Lounge was employed at the Johnson Space Center from July 1978 to June 1991. He worked as lead engineer for Space Shuttle-launched satellites, and also served as a member of the Skylab Reentry Flight Control Team. He completed these assignments while with the Payload Operations Division. Lounge joined the NASA Astronaut Corps with the astronaut candidate class of 1980. He served as a member of the launch support team at Kennedy Space Center for the STS-1, STS-2, and STS-3 missions. A veteran of three space flights, Lounge has logged over 482 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51I (August 27 to September 3, 1985) and STS-26 (September 29 to October 3, 1988) and was the flight engineer on STS-35 (December 2-10, 1990). Lounge served as the Director of Program Development for NASA Systems before assuming his present duties in February 2004. He entered on active duty with the United States Navy following graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy and spent the next nine years in a variety of assignments. His awards include six Navy Air Medals, three Navy Commendation Medals (with Combat "V"), the JSC Superior Achievement Award (for service as a member of the Skylab Reentry Team), three NASA Exceptional Service Medals and three NASA Space Flight Medals. He is holder of three U.S. Patents. Lounge received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1969 and a Master of Science degree in Astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1970.