Bernard A. Harris Jr., M.D.

1997 Honoree

Bernard Harris is a physician and astronaut, A native of Houston Texas, he graduated from the University of Houston in 1978. Four years later he earned his medical degree from the Texas Tech University Health Science Center, School of Medicine.

Dr. Harris received additional medical training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the National Aeronautics Space Administration Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California and the Aerospace School of Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. These appointments and professional experiences are extensive and are a testament to the quality of his preparation. To enhance his performance as a mission specialist, he acquired a private pilot license for single engine airplanes in 1988. In 1990, he earned his NASA co-pilots license for multiengine jets which helped him attain the position of vice president of operations.

In his other role as director of life science programs, he designs experiments to study human life, such as weightlessness, heart and muscular performance as well as how certain natural elements and manufactured products behave in space.

In August 1991, Dr. Harris was assigned as a mission specialist on Space Lab D-2. In 1993, he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia on a ten day mission, His last space adventure, however, was historic. He and Michael Foale made a five hour space walk to test thermal improvements in their space suits and to hoist a 2,800 pound telescope that would aid mission planners in efforts to design an international space station. The flight lasted eight days and included a rendezvous with the Russian space station, Mir.

The day before Harris' historic spacewalk, this strong man told Bryant Gumbel, co-host of the Today Show, that the coming space walk was doubly important because it was happening during Black History Month. "For me," he said, "It is really a great personal achievement, one that I've looked forward to for a long time, I get emotional when I think about it, and I'd like to dedicate my first space walk to all African-Americans and to African American achievement."