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C. Michael Foale (born 6 January 1957) is an British astronaut; he is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station.
Born in Louth, England and rasied in Cambridge, Foale recived a doctorate in astrophysics from Cambridge University in 1982. He joined the mission operations division of NASA in 1983 and was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987. Foale flew on space shuttle missions STS-45 (1992) and STS-56 (1993) and was selected for an extended mission aboard the Russian Mir space station. During a four month stay on Mir in 1997, Mir was struck by a Progress resupply vessel and Foale conducted an EVA to inspect exterior damage.
In 1999, Foale was a member of space shuttle mission STS-103, during which he condusted an 8-hour spacewalk to replace components of the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2003, Foale was named commander of International Space Station expedition 8, and is currently in orbit aboard the ISS with cosmonaut Alexandr Kaleri.