PERSONAL DATA: Born September 6, 1955, in Cleveland, Ohio. Married to the former Pamela J. Glady of Lyndhurst, Ohio. They have two children. He enjoys piano and vocal music, sports, and is lead singer for MAX-Q, a rock-n-roll band.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Charles F. Brush High School, Lyndhurst, Ohio, in 1973; received a bachelor of science degree in physics from Kent State University, Ohio, in 1977, and a master of science in solid state physics from John Carroll University, Ohio, in 1979.

ORGANIZATIONS: American Legion, KSU Alumni Association.

SPECIAL HONORS: Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Kent State University. Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the USAF Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf, the USAF Commendation Medal, and the USAF Achievement Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster. Distinguished Graduate from the USAF Test Pilot School, Class 83A. Inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame. Awarded three NASA Space Flight Medals, NASA Exceptional Service Medal. Distinguished Alumnus Award, Kent State University, 1997.

EXPERIENCE: From 1979 to 1982, Walz was responsible for analysis of radioactive samples from the Atomic Energy Detection System at the 1155th Technical Operations Squadron, McClellan Air Force Base, California. The subsequent year was spent in study as a Flight Test Engineer at the USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base, California. From January 1984 to June 1987, Walz served as a Flight Test Engineer to the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base, where he worked on a variety of F-16C airframe avionics and armament development programs. From July 1987 to June 1990, he served as a Flight Test Manager at Detachment 3, Air Force Flight Test Center.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in January 1990, Walz is a veteran of three space flights, and has logged over 833 hours (34.5 days) in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-51 in 1993, was the Orbiter flight engineer (MS-2) on STS-65 in 1994, and was a mission specialist on STS-79 in 1996.

Walz is assigned to the fourth crew scheduled to live on the International Space Station (ISS-4). He will launch aboard a Space Shuttle in late 2001 and return aboard a Space Shuttle 4-months later. The crew of three (two American astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut) will perform flight tests of the station hardware, conduct internal and external maintenance tasks, and develop the capability of the station to support the addition of science experiments.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-51 Discovery (September 12-22, 1993). During the mission, the five member crew deployed the U.S. Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), and the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS) with NASA and German scientific experiments aboard. Walz also participated in a 7-hour space walk (EVA) to evaluate tools for the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. The mission was accomplished in 9 days, 22 hours, and 12 minutes.

STS-65 Columbia (July 8-23, 1994). STS-65 flew the second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) spacelab module, and carried a crew of seven. During the 15-day flight the crew conducted more than 80 experiments focusing on materials and life sciences research in microgravity. The mission completed 236 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.1 million miles, setting a new flight duration record for the Shuttle program.

STS-79 Atlantis (September 16-26, 1996). On STS-79 the six member crew aboard the Shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian MIR station, delivered food, water, U.S. scientific experiments and Russian equipment, and exchanged NASA long duration crewmembers. During the mission, the Atlantis/Mir complex set a record for docked mass in space. STS-79 was the first flight of the double Spacehab module, and landed at KSC after 10 days 3 hours and 13 minutes.