Michael Carr is a geologist with the U. S. Geological Survey. He received a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of London in 1956 and a Ph. D. in Geology from Yale University in 1960. He was hired by the U.S,. Geological Survey in 1962, where he joined the Branch of Astrogeology, a section newly formed to support the Apollo Program. During the 1960's he was involved in various activities in conection with the Apollo Program These included geologic mapping of the Moon, participating in selection and mapping of landings sites, and briefing astronauts about what they should expect when they arrived on the surface. At the same time he was involved in several experiments to characterize meteoritic debris in the upper atmosphere.

In 1970, Carr was appointed a member of the imaging team for the Mariner-9 mission to Mars and was designated as imaging team leader for the Viking Orbiter that was to follow. Much of his time during the early to mid-1970,s was spent designing and implementing the Viking Orbiter imaging experiment. This highly successful experiment ultimately resulted in return to Earth of over 50,000 pictures of Mars. Since the Viking Orbiter mission ended in 1980, Carr has written two books and over one hundred papers about the planet, focussing mainly on the volcanoes, the channels and valleys, and the planets climate. Carr was also a member of the Voyager and Galileo imaging teams. In 1994 he was named that year's recipient of National Air and Space Museum Trophy for lifetime achievement in Air and Space Science and Technology.