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Ronald John Garan, Jr., who was born in Yonkers, turns 53 on Thursday.
Garan, Jr., a NASA astronaut, was born Oct. 30, 1961. After graduating from State University of New York College at Oneonta in 1982, he joined the Air Force, becoming a second lieutenant in 1984. He became an F-16 pilot, and flew combat missions in Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
Before becoming an astronaut he was the operations officer of the 40th Flight Test Squadron.
He first flew in space in May 2008 as a mission specialist on the STS-124 space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. He returned to the space station in April 2011 for a six-month stay as a member of Expedition 27.
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