Eric Boe | |
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| Born | Eric Allen Boe (1964-10-01)October 1, 1964 (age 61) |
| Education | United States Air Force Academy (BS) Georgia Institute of Technology (MS) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
| Rank | Colonel,USAF |
Time in space | 28d 15h 34m[1] |
| Selection | NASA Group 18 (2000) |
| Missions | STS-126 STS-133 |
Mission insignia |   |
Eric Allen Boe (born October 1, 1964) is a retiredUnited States Air Forcefighter pilot,colonel, andtest pilot, and an activeNASAastronaut. He flew as the pilot ofSpace Shuttle missionsSTS-126 andSTS-133.
Boe was born inMiami, Florida, and grew up inAtlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Henderson High School,Chamblee, Georgia, in 1983. He was a cadet in theGeorgia Wing of theCivil Air Patrol. While a cadet, Eric Boe earned theGeneral Carl A Spaatz Award, the highest award given to Civil Air Patrol cadets. Boe is still a senior member in theTexas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, along with his son, who recently became a cadet.[2] He earned aBachelor of Science degree inastronautical engineering from theUnited States Air Force Academy in 1987, and aMaster of Science degree inelectrical engineering from theGeorgia Institute of Technology in 1997. He is married to the former Kristen Newman ofThousand Oaks, California, and they have two children.
Boe was commissioned from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1987. He completed Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) atSheppard Air Force Base,Texas in 1988. Following transition training in theF-4 Phantom II, he was then assigned to the3d Tactical Fighter Squadron atClark Air Base in thePhilippines as a combat-ready pilot in theF-4E. In 1991, he served as aT-38 instructor pilot in the50th Flying Training Squadron, and as an AT-38B instructor pilot in the49th Fighter Training Squadron atColumbus AFB,Mississippi. In 1994, following transition training in theF-15 Eagle atTyndall AFB,Florida, he was assigned to the33rd Fighter Wing's60th Fighter Squadron atEglin AFB, Florida, serving as a flight commander in the F-15C. He flew 55 combat missions over Iraq in support ofOperation Southern Watch after the firstGulf War. In 1997, he attended theUSAF Test Pilot School atEdwards AFB,California. After graduation, he was assigned as the director of test, Air-to-Air Missile Test Division,46th Test Wing, Eglin AFB, where he served as a test pilot flying the A/B/C/D and E models of the F-15 and theUH-1N helicopter. He has logged over 6,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft.
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000, Boe reported to theJohnson Space Center in August 2000. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch and Station Operations Branch. His current technical assignment involves work with displays and controls for future space vehicles.[3] He made his first trip to space as pilot ofSpace Shuttle Endeavour duringSTS-126 on November 14, 2008. Boe flew his second space flight as pilot onSTS-133, the final scheduled flight of the Space ShuttleDiscovery and the third-to-last flight of theSpace Shuttle program.
In August 2012, Boe was namedDeputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
In July 2015, NASA announced Boe as one of the first astronauts forU.S. Commercial spaceflights.[4] Subsequently, he has started working withBoeing andSpaceX to train in their commercial crew vehicles, along with the other chosen astronauts –Sunita Williams,Robert Behnken andDoug Hurley. In August 2018, he was assigned toBoe-CFT, the first test flight of the BoeingCST-100 Starliner.[5] On January 22, 2019, NASA announced that Boe was unable to fly for medical reasons and replaced him withMichael Fincke.[6]
Boe is a distinguished graduate with honors from the United States Air Force Academy, and was awarded the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship for graduate studies.
In addition to his currentU.S. Air Force aeronautical rating ofCommand Pilot/Astronaut, his personal military decorations and service awards include:
NASA Astronaut Group 17 ← NASA Astronaut Group 18 →NASA Astronaut Group 19 | |||||||
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