This weekend, the university, college, and Department of Aerospace Engineering (AE) welcomed Colonel Lee J. Archambault (BS 1982, MS 1984, Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering), a distinguished United States Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut, back to campus during the Foundation weekend.
Earlier this spring, Archambault was chosen as a recipient of the College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award. Unfortunately, he also was the mission commander for a space shuttle mission in March, just prior to the college’s awards convocation and was unable to receive his honor in person.
On Friday, October 2, that situation was rectified, as Archambault was honored “for contributions to the assembly of the International Space Station and for decorated service in the United States Air Force” during a special reception in Engineering Hall.
While on campus, Archambault participated in the annual AE Alumni Advisory Board meeting and made several presentations to campus officials. As a former hockey player at Illinois, he returned to the Ice Arena on Friday night to present the team with a jersey that had flown with him in space. On Saturday afternoon, Archambault was on the field at Memorial Stadium, armed with his own NASA commemorative coin for the coin toss prior to the Illinois vs. Penn State football game.
Lee Archambault receives his Distinguished Alumni certificate from Mike Bragg, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Following his graduation from Illinois, the Bellwood, Illinois-native became a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Officer Training School. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1985 and earned his pilot wings a year later. Archambault served two F-117A tours of duty in Saudi Arabia in 1990 and 1991 during the Gulf War, flying 22 combat missions followed by post-Desert Storm peacekeeping efforts. In 1992, he was reassigned as an F-117A instructor pilot and operational test pilot. After graduating first in his class from the Air Force Test Pilot School in 1995, he performed weapons developmental flight tests.
A decorated military pilot, Archambault earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and Meritorious Service Medal, among other awards.
Selected as a pilot by NASA in 1998, he worked on flight instrument upgrades that were incorporated into the shuttle in 2003 and supported launch and landing operations at the Kennedy Space Center.
Archambault served as the lead astronaut support person for two shuttle flights in 2002 and 2005 and in October 2004 was assigned as the lead capsule communicator. He piloted the space shuttle Atlantis in June 2007, and in March 2009, he served as mission commander of the Discovery-both trips were to the International Space Station.
Since 1996, Archambault has served on the Department of Aerospace Engineering Alumni Advisory Board. In 1993, he was awarded the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering's Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award.
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