Mr. Carl E. Walz is currently the Director of Business Development at Oceaneering Space Systems in Houston Texas.
Prior to coming to Oceaneering, Mr. Walz was the Vice President for Human Spaceflight Operations at Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, responsible for cargo and mission operations for Orbital's Commercial Resupply Services program from 2008 to 2015.
Mr. Walz has also held several positions within NASA. He had a distinguished career as an astronaut, and is a veteran of four space flights, logging a total of 231 days in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51 (1993), where he deployed the Advanced Communications Technology satellite and performed a 7 hour spacewalk. He also served as the Orbiter flight engineer (MS-2) on STS-65 (1994), and was a mission specialist on the STS-79 (1996) mission to the Russian Mir Space Station. Mr. Walz was a flight engineer (FE-1) on ISS Expedition 4 (2001-2002), where he performed science experiments, assembly tasks, and maintenance tasks. He completed two spacewalks totaling almost 12 hours in both in the Russian and US spacesuits.
In addition to his NASA service as an astronaut, Mr. Walz served as the Director for the Advanced Capabilities Division in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. from 2006 to 2008. Mr. Walz is an Air Force veteran, retiring from active duty in 2003 after 24 years of service.
Mr. Walz received his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Kent State University in 1977, and his Master of Science in Physics from John Carroll University in 1979. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from John Carroll University in 2003.