Bernard
Harris is a physician and astronaut, A native of Houston Texas, he graduated
from the University of Houston in 1978. Four years later he earned his medical
degree from the Texas Tech University Health Science Center, School of Medicine.
Dr. Harris received additional
medical training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the National Aeronautics
Space Administration Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California and the
Aerospace School of Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. These appointments and professional
experiences are extensive and are a testament to the quality of his preparation.
To enhance his performance as a mission specialist, he acquired a private pilot
license for single engine airplanes in 1988. In 1990, he earned his NASA co-pilots
license for multiengine jets which helped him attain the position of vice president
of operations.
"... I'd like to
dedicate my first space walk to all African Americans ..."
In his other role as director
of life science programs, he designs experiments to study human life, such as
weightlessness, heart and muscular performance as well as how certain natural
elements and manufactured products behave in space.
In August 1991, Dr. Harris
was assigned as a mission specialist on Space Lab D-2. In 1993, he flew aboard
the Space Shuttle Columbia on a ten day mission, His last space adventure, however,
was historic. He and Michael Foale made a five hour space walk to test thermal
improvements in their space suits and to hoist a 2,800 pound telescope that
would aid mission planners in efforts to design an international space station.
The flight lasted eight days and included a rendezvous with the Russian space
station, Mir.
The day before Harris' historic
spacewalk, this strong man told Bryant Gumbel, co-host of the Today Show, that
the coming space walk was doubly important because it was happening during Black
History Month. "For me," he said, "It is really a great personal achievement,
one that I've looked forward to for a long time, I get emotional when I think
about it, and I'd like to dedicate my first space walk to all African-Americans
and to African American achievement."
