Carlos Noriega
Carlos Noriega joined NASA’s Astronaut Corps in 1994. He focused on building the International Space Station during his second mission in 2000.
Synopsis
Carlos Noriega was born on October 8, 1959, in Lima, Peru. He flew helicopters for the U.S. Marine Corps after college. He graduated with a master’s degree in space systems operations in 1990. NASA selected him for the Astronaut Corps in 1994. He helped build the International Space Station on his second mission. He continues to work for NASA at the Johnson Space Center.
Profile
Astronaut. Born on October 8, 1959, in Lima, Peru. Noriega grew up in Santa Clara, California. While in college, he was a member of the U.S. Navy's Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After graduation, Noriega received a commission with the U.S. Marine Corps and went to flight school. He had several different assignments, including flying helicopters at the Marine Corps Air Station in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
In 1990, Noriega earned two master's degrees—one in computer science, the other in space systems operations—from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He then went to work at the United States Space Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was selected for Astronaut Corps by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1994. About a year after completing all of the necessary training, he went on his first space shuttle mission in 1997. As a member of the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, he conducted experiments and visited the Russian space station Mir space. His second mission was in 2000, which was dedicated to building the International Space Station.
Retired from the Astronaut Corps in 2005, Noriega continues to work at NASA as the manager of advanced projects office in the constellation program at Johnson Space Center. He is married and has five children.
