Michael

Michael Thomas Berry is the fifth named Thomas in a family lineage that descends from one Thomas Nisbet, who emigrated from Haddingtonshire, Scotland in 1856. He is the last of that line of sturdy peat bog farmers and coal miners. [1] [2]

That Scottish lowland heritage eventually merged with another Anglo-Saxon line of scholars and rocket scientists, giving Michael the genetic codes for both brains and brawn. On his mother's side, he is also one-eighth Kickapoo/Potawatomi, but in him it doesn't show.

As a third-generation "only child," he has no brothers or sisters, aunts or uncles, or grandparents. So there are no family get-togethers for the holidays.

Scholastically, Michael graduated with honors from Sarpy County Cooperative HeadStart, and is currently enrolled in undergraduate courses at Carriage Hill Elementary School, majoring in childhood learning.

Michael has over 500 Hot Wheels™ cars; Wii®, Xbox 360®, and Nintendo® DSi game systems, along with many pounds of Lego™ toys. However, for entertainment he would rather play something called Minecraft™ online. Because of this, he spends his free hours neurally interfaced with his parents' powerhouse Macintosh workstation.

Michael's name was recorded on a microchip scheduled to rocket into space aboard NASA's Glory satellite on March 4, 2011. Unfortunately, six minutes after launch, a protective shell atop the satellite's Taurus XL rocket did not separate as expected. The spacecraft failed to reach orbit and fell into the South Pacific.

Digitized photographs of Michael were flown to the International Space Station aboard each of the final three Space Shuttle missions.

His name was etched into a silicon chip installed on the deck of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. The rover landed on Mars and began surface operations on August 10, 2012.