Josef Schmid

Maj. Gen. Joe Schmid, USAFR (Ret.), M.D., is a NASA/USAF (Ret.) flight surgeon and family physician at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is the lead for Orion (Artemis) medical operations. He is a senior FAA aviation medical examiner qualified for all class certificates. His patients are current astronauts, their family members, other flight surgeons, engineers, retired astronauts including those from the Gemini and Apollo programs, an X-15 pilot, and retired shuttle astronauts. Dr. Schmid is the physician TRR board member and first-call surgeon for astronaut analog training missions. He is the chair of Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health, a current member and previous executive secretary of the Aerospace Medicine Board at NASA’s Johnson. He is the physician board member of the International Space Station Advisory Committee. He is the former deputy of the NASA Johnson Flight Medicine Clinic and the current medical operations representative to the Exploration Medical Capability Project. He is the former lead for space medicine training, responsible for training medical students, other flight surgeons, astronaut crew medical officers, and biomedical engineers. He served as the UTMB Aerospace Medicine Residency co-director for 13 years. He is also the former lead for the electronic medical record system. 

His space medicine experience includes serving as a surgeon console operator for the shuttle, space station, and for spacewalks, and as crew surgeon for shuttle missions STS-116, STS-120, and International Space Station Expeditions 18, 24, 29, 38, 48, 55, 62, and 68, with additional missions involving shuttle and Soyuz landing and crew recovery operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Edwards AFB, Baikonur, Arkalyk, and Dzezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Dr. Schmid is a recently retired major general, USAFR, and served as the ranking Air Reserve medic and mobilization assistant to the surgeon general of the Air Force, Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C. His previous assignment was as the deputy joint staff surgeon and director of Reserve Medical Readiness Operations and Affairs, Special Staff to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.  

He graduated summa cum laude from Belmont Abbey College in 1988.He has deployed in support of the Defense Institute of Medical Operations to Nepal, Mexico, Rwanda, Romania and Sri Lanka. He has been the chief of hospital services for the 433rd Medical Squadron and then commander of the 433rd Aeromedical Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base. Dr. Schmid became an aquanaut during NEEMO 12, a 12-day mission to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s undersea Aquarius habitat. In October 2021, Dr. Schmid became the first human to be “holoported” to the International Space Station.