Rick Searfoss is a professional motivational speaker emphasizing leadership, teamwork, innovation, creativity and expertise. Former astronaut Rick Searfoss continues to stay right in the middle in some of today's most innovative leading-edge projects: Vice President of the Zero Gravity Corporation, XCOR Aerospace Corporation flight test, leader and spokesperson for numerous space entrepreneurial ventures.

Rick Searfoss served as STS-58 pilot on the seven-person life science research mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, launching from the Kennedy Space Center on October 18, 1993, and landing at Edwards Air Force Base on November 1, 1993. The crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic, and musculoskeletal medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding our knowledge of human and animal physiology both on earth and in space flight. In addition, the crew performed 16 engineering tests aboard the Orbiter Columbia and 20 Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project experiments. The mission was accomplished in 225 orbits of the Earth.

STS-58 was the 4th longest mission in US manned space history and was dedicated to life sciences research. Columbia's crew performed a series of experiments to gain knowledge on how the human body adapts to the weightless environment of space. Experiments focused on cardiovascular, regulatory, neurovestibular and musculoskeletal systems of the body.

Crew members conducted experiments aimed at understanding bone tissue loss and the effects of microgravity on sensory perception. Two neurovestibular experiments investigating space motion sickness and perception changes were performed on the 2nd day as well. Astronauts Lucid and Fettman wore a headset, called an Accelerometer recording Unit, designed to continually record head movements throughout the day.

On Friday, October 22, 1993, using the on-board ham radio called SAREX for Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, Blaha and Searfoss contacted school children at the Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View, TN, and Gardendale Elementary in Pasadena, TX. The Standard Interface Rack, or SIR, was tested by Searfoss to demonstrate that equipment can be removed from one rack location and reintegrated into another by a single crew member during orbital operations while maintaining reliable mechanical, data and power interfaces.

Another new test flying aboard Columbia was a laptop computer simulator that was being flown to see if it would qualify as a tool for helping the mission commander and pilot maintain their proficiency for approach and landing during longer duration Space Shuttle flights. The laptop was controlled using a joy stick hand controller similar to the one used to fly the orbiter in the final minutes before landing.

After several ham radio contacts around the country and work in a vacuum bag designed to ease the body's readaptation to Earth's environment, the orbiter crew made up of Commander John Blaha, Pilot Rick Searfoss and Mission Specialist Bill McArthur oversaw a short firing of one of the orbital maneuvering system engines to drop the low end of Columbia's orbit from 150 to 142 nautical miles to increase the landing opportunities should the mission be extended for weather or a system problem that would keep the crew in orbit two extra days.

On Wednesday, October 27, 1993, Pilot Rick Searfoss put Columbia through some maneuvers as part of the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment. The main goal of the experiment is to accurately measure the aerodynamic forces that act on the shuttle in orbit and during the early stages of entry. This information is useful to scientists and engineers planning future Spacelab microgravity research flights in which experiments will need a quiet, motion- free environment to produce the best possible data.

On Thursday, October 28, 1993, After enjoying a half a day off, the astronauts aboard Columbia continued to collect scientific data on how humans and animals adapt to the absence of Earth's gravity. Payload Commander Rhea Seddon sent down a special message to her husband, Astronaut Office Chief Hoot Gibson at 4:1 p.m. CDT when she surpassed his total of 632 hours, 56 minutes in space. "He's still a really good guy, I still love him a lot, but I've got more hours in space than he does, so there!" she teased. Seddon acknowledged, however, that he has more launches and landings, having flown four times to her three. Pilot Rick Searfoss took time out from snapping some infrared photography of the wildfires burning in southern California to say that the crew's thoughts are with the firefighters working to quell the flames and the residents whose homes are being threatened. He said he hoped the fires would be brought under control soon, and added that the photographs he was taking will be among some 4,000 frames that will be returned to Earth for meteorologists, geologists, ecologists and archeologists to study after the flight.

Rick Searfoss, Colonel, USAF Retired, former astronaut, is a distinguished teamwork and leadership expert speaker who has piloted or commanded three highly successful space missions. As a mission commander, he is also one of less than a hundred people in history ever chosen to command a human space mission.