United States Air Force officer and test pilot and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astronaut. He participated in several space missions, including STS-128, Soyuz TMA-06M, and Expeditions 33 and 34.
He received degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame (B.S.), the University of Florida (M.S.), and the Air Force Institute of Technology (Ph.D.).
From 2004-2005, he directed Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
He was born in Indiana to Barbara and Clayton Ford. His marriage to Kelly Bennett produced a son and a daughter.
He was a contemporary of Wisconsin-born Astronaut Leroy Chiao.
