Josef Schmid (flight surgeon)

Josef F. "Joe" Schmid, M.D., MPH is a NASA flight surgeon and a brigadier general in the United States Air Force Reserves. He served as an aquanaut on the joint NASA-NOAA NEEMO 12 underwater exploration mission in May 2007.

Schmid was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. He graduated from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, in 1988 with an Honors degree in biology. While at Belmont Abbey College, Schmid was a summer intern at NASA. He received his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 1992. He completed his family practice residency at David Grant USAF Medical Center and then served tours in Okinawa, Japan, and Frankfurt, Germany. Following his active duty Air Force service, Dr. Schmid then obtained his Master of public health and aerospace medicine residency at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Schmid is board certified and a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. He lives in Houston, Texas and is married.

Schmid's special honors and awards include:

• Fellow, American Academy of Family Physicians
• NASA Group Awards for Flight Medicine Clinic, Electronic Medical Record Development and Space Medicine Training
• NASA Individual Performance Awards
• Tom McNish USAF Reserves National Physician Recruiting Award
• USAF Health Professions Scholarship Program Recipient
• Belmont Abbey Anne Horne Little Scholarship Recipient
• Air Force Meritorious Service Medals
• Air Force Commendation Medal
• Air Force Achievement Medal
• Air Force Outstanding Unit Medals
• Various other military service and campaign awards
• 2008 Belmont Abbey College Wall of Fame Honoree

Schmid performing EVA during NEEMO 12 mission

Dr. Schmid served as the deputy crew surgeon for the STS-116 Discovery mission, which was completed in December 2006. His duties during missions include the primary care and medical certification for those assigned astronauts, medical training of the shuttle crew medical officers and crew and medical support during shuttle launch and landing. He also staffs the shuttle surgeon console in Mission Control during the mission, where he monitors physiologic data during extravehicular activities (EVA) and provides real-time telemedicine via private medical conferences directly with the crew. Dr. Schmid holds shuttle Mission Control console certification and is currently in training for International Space Station surgeon console certification. Dr. Schmid flies as a T-38 crewmember and has flown many KC-135 Reduced Gravity flights as the medical monitor and as a subject for medical and surgical training. On top of that Dr. Schmid is a mentor for NASA's High Aerospace Scholars.

Dr. Schmid is a NASA flight surgeon in the Medical Operations Branch at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is also the NASA/UTMB Aerospace Medicine Residency co-director. Furthermore, Dr. Schmid served as the commander of the 433rd Aerospace Medicine Squadron in Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

In May 2007, Schmid became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, NEEMO 12 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. He was the first NASA flight surgeon to serve on a NEEMO mission. Schmid was the crew surgeon for the STS-120 Atlantis shuttle mission, which visited the International Space Station in October–November 2007. He served as crew surgeon again for ISS Expedition 23/24 (2010), and is serving as deputy crew surgeon for ISS Expedition 29/30 (starting in September 2011).

Schmid's interests include surgeon-guided remote robotics, center-of-gravity studies for future lunar missions, and robotics demonstrations for schoolchildren.

Dr. Schmid was an astronaut candidate finalist in many selections.