First armenian astronaut
James Philip Bagian, is an American physician, engineer, and former NASA astronaut of Armenian descent. During his career as an astronaut, he logged 337 hours of space-flight, over two missions, STS-29 (in 1989) and STS-40 (in 1991).
After leaving NASA in 1995, Bagian was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine. He was also elected as member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2000 for the integration of engineering and medical knowledge in applications to aerospace systems, environmental technology, and patient safety.
Bagian is currently the Director of the Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety at the University of Michigan.
Bagian is the only person of Armenian descent to have been in space.
