Michael Richard Clifford (October 13, 1952 – December 28, 2021) was a United States Army officer and NASA astronaut.

Clifford was a Master Army Aviator and logged over 3,400 hours flying in a wide variety of fixed and rotary winged aircraft.

He was born in San Bernardino, California, on October 13, 1952,[2] the son of Lenore (née Chaffin) and her first husband John Michael Uram.

[2] He was subsequently assigned for three years as a service platoon commander with the Attack Troop, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Nuremberg, West Germany.

[19][20] After 116 orbits of the Earth, Clifford returned with the rest of the STS-53 crew, which landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 9, 1992.

[21][22] The mission concluded on April 20, 1994, with a landing at Edwards Air Force Base after orbiting the Earth 183 times.

[15] He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a few months after STS-59 by NASA medical staff and Dr. Joseph Jankovic, a neurologist in Houston.

[23][24] Despite the Parkinson's diagnosis,[23] Clifford was selected to serve aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-76, which launched on March 22, 1996.

[26] Following 145 orbits of the Earth, he returned as Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on March 31, 1996.

[2] The Cliffords took up residence in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2012 and Rich lived there till his death in 2021.

[23] He suspected that exposures to pesticides used in farms and other chemicals used on car engines since he was a youngster contributed to the early onset of his illness.

[33] Filmmaker Zach Jankovic, son of Dr. Joseph Jankovic who helped diagnose Clifford, made a documentary detailing Clifford's experiences with the disease; the short film entitled The Astronaut's Secret won the American Academy of Neurology Foundation's 2012 annual "Neuro Film Festival" competition[34] and was released in 2014.