---

Photo courtesty of NASA

.....

FERGUSON, CHRISTOPHER NASA astronaut, was born September 1, 1961, to Ian and Mary Ann Ferguson, and graduated in 1979 from Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Little is known of Ian Ferguson, who evidentally died in 1981. Then his mother, who came from the Florkowski families in Philadelphia, where one of them was a saloon keeper, married Norman Pietras, and on September 9 21, 2006, when he was the pilot of the space shuttle named Atlantis and delivered a 35,000-pound solar plant to the International Space Station, she led an army of admirers to recognize his accomplishments. The solar panels provided one quarter of the station's power. Ferguson earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in 1984 and later a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He started flight training at Pensacola, Florida, in November 1984 and earned his wings in Kingsville, Texas. For fourteen years he was a Navy pilot, testing air-to-ground weapons and other devices from various aircraft, and trained other fliers to follow in his footsteps. In 1995, he was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf and flew a Navy fighter in the Iraqi no-fly zone. He entered the space program in June 1998 when NASA sent him to Johnson Space Center in Texas for training and study of space flight. In his free time he enjoyed golfing, woodworking, running, and playing a drum in a rock and roll band. The Navy captain is married to Sandra A. Cabot and they have three children.

---

From: Edward Pinkowski - [email protected] - 2008

---