James P. Bagian

James Philipp Bagian is an American physician and NASA astronaut born on 22 February 1952 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in 1973 and a doctorate in medicine from Thomas Jefferson University in 1977, and he retired from the United States Air Force Reserve as a colonel. He applied unsuccessfully to NASA astronaut group 8 before being selected in group NASA-9 on 19 May 1980. As a mission specialist he flew STS-29 Discovery in March 1989 and STS-40 Columbia in June 1991, for a little over 14 days in space. He resigned from NASA in August 1995 and afterwards worked with the Environmental Protection Agency National Vehicle and Field Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor. His interests include bicycling, backpacking, climbing, swimming, flying and cabinet making.