Michael López-Alegría was born in Madrid, Spain and immigrated to the U.S. as a young boy with his family. He has over 40 years of aviation and space experience with the U.S. Navy and NASA in a variety of roles, including Naval Aviator, engineering test pilot, NASA astronaut, and commander of the International Space Station (ISS).

López-Alegría is currently the chief astronaut for Axiom Space. He commanded the crew of Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private mission to the ISS in human history, and previously served as commander of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3). He is a six-time astronaut, having flown on Ax-1, Ax-3, space shuttle missions STS-73, STS-92, and STS- 113, and Soyuz TMA-9 to and from the ISS, where he served as commander of Expedition 14. He holds NASA records for the most extravehicular activities (EVA) or “space walks” (10) and cumulative EVA time (67 hours, 40 minutes). He was elected to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame as a 2020 inductee.

López-Alegría is the former president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, where he was a spokesman, thought leader and advocate with the U.S. Congress and pertinent executive agencies for favorable public policy on behalf of the commercial spaceflight industry. He has served on several advisory boards and committees of public and private organizations, including the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council and the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee to the FAA.

López-Alegría is the former chairman of ASTM International Committee on Commercial Spaceflight and former president of the Association of Space Explorers USA, a professional and educational organization of current and former astronauts.

López-Alegría is honored to have led his second commercial mission with Axiom Space as commander of Ax-3.