Editing Mark C. Lee

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Short description|American astronaut (born 1952)}}
{{BLP sources|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox astronaut
|name          = Mark Lee
|image         = Mark C. Lee - Portrait 1984 (cropped).jpg
|caption       = Lee in 1984
|birth_name    = Mark Charles Lee
|birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1952|8|14}}
|birth_place   = [[Viroqua, Wisconsin|Viroqua]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S.
|death_date    = 
|death_place   = 
|education     = [[United States Air Force Academy]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br>[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Master of Science|MS]])
|type          = [[NASA astronaut]]
|rank          = [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]], [[United States Air Force|USAF]]
|time          = 32d 21h 46m
|selection     = [[NASA Astronaut Group 10|NASA Group 10 (1984)]]
|mission       = [[STS-30]]<br>[[STS-47]]<br>[[STS-64]]<br>[[STS-82]]
|insignia      = [[File:Sts-30-patch.png|55px]] [[File:Sts-47-patch.png|60px]] [[File:Sts-64-patch.png|55px]] [[File:Sts-82-patch.png|55px]]
}}
'''Mark Charles Lee''' [[United States Air Force|USAF]] Colonel, (born August 14, 1952) is a former [[NASA]] [[astronaut]] who flew on four [[Space Shuttle]] missions. He retired from the [[USAF|Air Force]] and NASA on July 1, 2001.

==Early life==
Lee was born August 14, 1952, in [[Viroqua, Wisconsin]], and graduated from Viroqua High School in 1970. Lee is an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]]. He later attended the [[United States Air Force Academy]], where he received a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in [[civil engineering]] in 1974. Following pilot training at [[Laughlin Air Force Base]], Texas, and [[F-4 Phantom II]] upgrade at [[Luke Air Force Base]], [[Arizona]], Lee spent {{frac|2|1|2}} years at [[Kadena AB|Kadena Air Base]] in Okinawa, Japan, flying F-4's in the [[25th Tactical Fighter Squadron]]. In 1979, after this assignment, he studied for a [[Master of Science]] degree in [[mechanical engineering]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], where he specialized in [[graphite]]/[[epoxy]] advanced [[composite materials]].

After graduation from MIT in 1980, he was assigned to [[Hanscom Air Force Base]], [[Massachusetts]], in the [[Airborne Early Warning and Control|Airborne Warning and Control System]] (AWACS) Program Office, as the operational support manager. His responsibilities included resolving mechanical and material deficiencies which affected the mission readiness of the AWACS aircraft. In 1982 he returned to flying, upgrading in the [[F-16 Fighting Falcon|F-16]] and serving as executive officer for the [[388th Tactical Fighter Wing]] Deputy Commander for Operations, and as flight commander in the [[4th Tactical Fighter Squadron]] at [[Hill Air Force Base]], [[Utah]], until his selection as an astronaut candidate.

==Astronaut career==
Lee was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in May 1984. In June 1985, he completed a one-year training and evaluation program, qualifying him for assignment as a mission specialist on future [[Space Shuttle]] flight crews. His technical responsibilities within the Astronaut Office included [[extravehicular activity]] (EVA), the [[Inertial Upper Stage]], [[Spacelab]], and Space Station systems. Lee also served as a [[Capsule communicator|spacecraft communicator]] in the [[Mission Control Center]], as Lead [[Astronaut Support Person]] at the [[Kennedy Space Center]], Chief of Astronaut Appearances, Chief of the Astronaut Office Mission Development Branch, Chief of the EVA Robotics Branch, and Chief of the EVA Branch. He also worked Space Station assembly issues for the Astronaut Office.

In total, during his four space flights, Lee traveled over 13 million miles going around the world 517 times and spending 33 days in orbit. Lee's first shuttle mission was as a mission specialist on [[STS-30]] (May 4–8, 1989). This mission involved the launch of the [[Magellan probe]], a [[Venus]]-exploration spacecraft and experiments involving life sciences and crystals.

In his second flight, mission [[STS-47]], running from September 12–20, 1992, Lee was payload commander with overall crew responsibility for the planning, integration, and on-orbit coordination of payload/Space Shuttle activities. This cooperative mission between the United States and Japan included 44 Japanese and U.S. life science and materials processing experiments and the shuttle carried [[Spacelab]]-J.  Lee also initiated a unique distinction with STS-47: his wife at that time, [[Jan Davis]], was a mission specialist on the flight, making Lee and Davis the first married couple to be in space at the same time. Lee and Davis had met during training for the flight and had married in secret.  They disclosed their marriage to NASA shortly before the flight, when it was too late to train a substitute.  NASA has since changed the rules and will not allow married astronauts on the same flight.<ref name="obrien">{{cite news |first=Miles |last=O'Brien |title=Shuttle astronaut taken off crew for ISS mission |url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/08/astronaut.removed/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000119110935/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/08/astronaut.removed/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 19, 2000 |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=September 8, 1999 |accessdate=July 13, 2008}}</ref>

Lee was a mission specialist on his third flight, mission [[STS-64]], running from September 9–20, 1994.  During this flight, he logged 6 hours and 51 minutes of EVA to test a self-rescue jetpack, undertook the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years and deployed and retrieved a solar science satellite.  Lee's final flight was [[STS-82]], running from February 11–21, 1997.  This was the second [[Hubble Space Telescope]] maintenance mission and Lee again served as payload commander. He was a member of one of two spacewalk teams who installed two new spectrometers and eight replacement instruments, as well as replacing insulation patches over three compartments containing key data processing, electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. Lee's contribution amounted to three spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 10 minutes of EVA.

Lee was scheduled to fly another mission to the International Space Station in 2000, but was replaced by [[Robert Curbeam]] for "undisclosed reasons"<ref name="obrien"/> which news reports claimed related to a falling-out with "at least one of his superiors at the NASA's Johnson Space Center".<ref name="obrien"/>  Lee asked for the decision to be reconsidered, but was not reinstated.<ref>{{cite news|first=Glen |last=Golightly |title=Astronaut Lee Appealing Removal From Shuttle Mission |url=http://www.space.com/news/spaceshuttles/lee_appeal.html |publisher=[[space.com]] |date=September 13, 1999 |accessdate=November 15, 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830040624/http://www.space.com/news/spaceshuttles/lee_appeal.html |archivedate=August 30, 2008 }}</ref> He retired from NASA in 2001.

==Personal life==
Lee married fellow astronaut Jan Davis in January 1991.<ref>{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Susan Heller |date=March 7, 1991 |title=Chronicle |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/07/style/chronicle-428791.html |accessdate=March 19, 2017}}</ref> They were the first married couple to fly together in space, joined in 2022 by Sharon and Marc Hagle on Blue Origin's NS-20. <ref>{{Cite magazine |title=Meet The Only Married Couple To Fly Together In Space |url=https://time.com/4218472/astronaut-couples-valentines-day/ |access-date=June 22, 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref> They divorced in 1999. 

He subsequently married former Paula Marie Simon. They have three boys.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyforsale.com/signer-memorabilia/colonel-mark-c-lee/17271|title=Colonel Mark C. Lee Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles Page 1 &#124; HistoryForSale}}</ref> In early 2006 Lee's family reunited with his birth grandmother, 77 years after his mother had been placed for adoption.<ref name="Bostom.com">{{cite news|last=Taxin |first=Amy |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |accessdate=January 3, 2012 |date=January 3, 2012 |title=Mom reunites with biological child 77 years later |url=http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2012/01/03/mom_reunites_with_biological_child_77_years_later/?page=2 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108060318/http://www.boston.com/community/moms/articles/2012/01/03/mom_reunites_with_biological_child_77_years_later/?page=2 |archivedate=January 8, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1109804 |title=Woman meets child born out of rape, given up for adoption 77 years ago |newspaper=[[Toronto Star]] |date=January 3, 2012 |accessdate= March 17, 2012 |first=Amy |last=Taxin |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

==Medals and honors==
Lee has been awarded a number of medals and honors including the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (U.S.)|Distinguished Flying Cross]], the [[Defense Superior Service Medal]], the [[Legion of Merit]], the [[Defense Meritorious Service Medal]], and the Air Force [[Meritorious Service Medal (United States)|Meritorious Service Medal]]. He has also received two [[Air Force Commendation Medal]]s, four [[NASA Space Flight Medal]]s, the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]], the [[NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal]], the [[NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award]], and two [[NASA Exceptional Service Medal]]s.

==References==
{{Include-NASA}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/lee_mark_0.pdf |title=MARK C. LEE (COLONEL, USAF, RET.) NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER) |publisher=NASA |date=October 2006 |access-date=April 3, 2021}}

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/lee_mark.htm Spacefacts biography of Robert Mark C. Lee]

{{NASA Astronaut Group 10}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Mark C.}}
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:United States Air Force Academy alumni]]
[[Category:United States Air Force officers]]
[[Category:People from Viroqua, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal]]
[[Category:United States Air Force astronauts]]
[[Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:Space Shuttle program astronauts]]
[[Category:Spacewalkers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Wisconsin]]