Michael López-Alegría is an astronaut, test pilot and commercial astronaut with dual nationality, American and Spanish; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission. He is known for having performed ten spacewalks so far in his career, presently holding the second longest all-time EVA duration record and having the fifth-longest spaceflight of any American at the length of 215 days; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006, to April 21, 2007. López-Alegría commanded Axiom-1, the first ever all-private team of commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station, which launched on April 8, 2022, and spent just over 17 days in Earth's orbit.
Lopez in March 2000
López-Alegría after landing of Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft in Kazakhstan.
López-Alegría conducting EVA during Expedition 14.
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA includes spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration. In a stand-up EVA (SEVA), an astronaut stands through an open hatch but does not fully leave the spacecraft. EVAs have been conducted by the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China.
Cosmonaut Sergey Volkov works outside the International Space Station on August 3, 2011.
Stephen Robinson riding the Canadarm2 during STS-114 on August 3, 2005. The first in-flight repair of the Space Shuttle. The landmass in the backdrop is the Bari region of Somalia.
Ed White performs the first American spacewalk during Gemini IV.
Buzz Aldrin walks on the Moon during the pioneering Apollo 11 mission in 1969.