Michael R. Clifford

American army officer and astronaut (1952–2021)

Michael Richard Uram "Rich" Clifford (October 13, 1952 – December 28, 2021) was an American Army officer and NASA astronaut. Clifford was born at an air force base in San Bernardino County, California. He was raised in Ogden, Utah.

Clifford was seen as a Master Army Aviator. Clifford retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Clifford had over 12 hours of spacewalk time over three Space Shuttle missions. He was also one of the first people to do a spacewalk while docked to an orbiting space station. The spacewalk was conducted during STS-76, while docked at the Russian space station Mir. He did this, while hiding the fact that he had Parkinson's disease.[1]

Clifford was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1994. He died from problems caused by the disease on December 28, 2021 at the age of 69.[1]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 "Rich Clifford, astronaut who secretly flew with Parkinson's, dies at 69". 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2021-12-29.