Born April 15, 1951 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, but considers Scottsdale, Arizona to be his hometown. He is married to the former Laura Jean Doell of Scotia, New York. They have two children. Graduated from Scottsdale High School, Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1966; received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and Russian from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1972; a master of science degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida in 1974; a master of science degree and a doctorate in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1984 and 1987 respectively. A National Merit Scholar; he graduated second of 906 in the class of 1972 at U.S. Naval Academy; received 2 NASA Group Achievement Awards for contributions to the Ulysses Spacecraft Mission and the Los Alamos National Laboratory Distinguished Performance Award in 1996. Awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal and various military awards. Phillips received a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1972 and was designated a Naval Aviator in November 1974, concurrent with his completion of an MS degree in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida. He trained in the A-7 Corsair aircraft at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California and made overseas deployment with Attack Squadron 155 aboard the aircraft carriers and. Subsequent tours of duty included Navy Recruiting Command duty in Albany, New York, and flying the CT-39 Sabreliner aircraft at Naval Air Station North Island, California. After leaving the Regular Navy and transferring to the Naval Reserve in 1982, Phillips enrolled as a graduate student at UCLA. While at UCLA he carried out research involving observations by the NASA Pioneer Venus Spacecraft. Upon completing his doctorate in 1987, he was awarded a J. Robert Oppenheimer Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He accepted a career position at Los Alamos in 1989. While there, Phillips performed research on the sun and the space environment. From 1993 through 1996 he was Principal Investigator for the Solar Wind Plasma Experiment aboard the Ulysses Spacecraft as it executed a unique trajectory over the poles of the sun. He has authored 156 scientific papers dealing with the plasma environments of the sun, earth, other planets, comets and spacecraft. Phillips has logged over 4,400 flight hours and 250 carrier landings. He was a Navy Reservist from 1982 to 2002, serving as an A-7 pilot, and in various non-flying assignments. He holds the rank of captain, USN.
STS-100 was a 12-day mission to the ISS. During the mission, the crew successfully delivered and installed the Canadarm2 Robotic Arm. They also delivered experiments and supplies aboard the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Raffaello on its maiden flight. Phillips was the Ascent/Entry Flight engineer and was the intravehicular activity coordinator during two space walks. Expedition 11.
On August 18, 2005, Phillips and Krikalev completed a five-hour spacewalk to retrieve several experiments and install a video camera for the new docking procedure.
STS-119 was a 12-day mission to the ISS flown during March 2009. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment, and the fourth set of solar arrays and batteries to the station. The launch took place on March 15, 2009. Discovery successfully landed on March 28, 2009. Phillips was detailed to the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, from 2009 to 2011 as the Smith/McCool NASA Chair Professor.
