Megan McArthur | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) McArthur in 2020 | |
| Born | Katherine Megan McArthur (1971-08-30)August 30, 1971 (age 54) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BS) University of California, San Diego (MS,PhD) |
| Spouse | Bob Behnken |
| Children | 1 |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 212 days, 15 hours, 21 minutes |
| Selection | NASA Group 18 (2000) |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |     |
| Retirement | August 29, 2025 |
Katherine Megan McArthur (born August 30, 1971) is an Americanoceanographer,engineer, and formerNASAastronaut. She has served as aCapsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for both theSpace Shuttle andInternational Space Station (ISS). Megan McArthur has flown one Space Shuttle mission,STS-125, and one SpaceX mission,SpaceX Crew-2 onCrew DragonEndeavour. She is known as the last person to be hands on with theHubble Space Telescope via theCanadarm. McArthur has served in a number of positions including working in the Shuttle Avionics Laboratory (SAIL). She is married to fellow astronautBob Behnken.[1]
McArthur was born inHonolulu, Hawaii, but grew up inCalifornia.[2][3] She attendedLondon Central High School and graduated fromSt. Francis High School inMountain View, California, then later earned aBachelor of Science degree inaerospace engineering from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1993. In 2002, she was awarded aPh.D. inoceanography from theScripps Institution of Oceanography at theUniversity of California, San Diego.[2]
At theScripps Institution of Oceanography, McArthur conducted graduate research in nearshoreunderwater acoustic propagation anddigital signal processing.[2] Her research focused on determining geoacoustic models to describe very shallow water waveguides using measured transmission loss data in agenetic algorithm inversion technique. She served as chief scientist during at-sea data collection operations and has planned and led diving operations during sea-floor instrument deployments and sediment-sample collections. While at Scripps, she participated in a range of in-water instrument testing, deployment, maintenance, and recovery, and collection of marine plants, animals, and sediment. During this time, McArthur also volunteered atBirch Aquarium, conducting educational demonstrations for the public from inside a 70,000-gallon (265 m³) exhibit tank of the California Kelp Forest.
Selected as a mission specialist by NASA in July 2000, McArthur reported for training in August 2000.[2] She trained at theSonny Carter Training Facility.Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned to the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch working technical issues on shuttle systems in theShuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). McArthur then served as the crew support astronaut for theExpedition 9 crew during their six-month mission aboard theInternational Space Station (ISS). She also worked in the Space Station and Space Shuttle Mission Control Centers as aCapsule Communicator (CAPCOM). In 2006, McArthur was the CAPCOM forSTS-116. She was also the EVA capcom for theSTS-117 mission in 2007. She retired from NASA on August 29, 2025.[4]
In 2009, Megan McArthur was a member of theSTS-125 mission to service theHubble Space Telescope. McArthur was the ascent and entry flight engineer and was the lead robotics crew member for the mission. The mission which lasted almost 13 days[2] was McArthur's first trip into space. In a pre-flight interview, she put it as: "I'll be the last one with hands on the Hubble Space Telescope."[5]
In 2019, McArthur was appointed Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
In July 2020, NASA announced that McArthur would fly into space for the second time onSpaceX Crew-2, along with NASA astronautShane Kimbrough,JAXA astronautAkihiko Hoshide, andESA astronautThomas Pesquet.[6][7][8] She used the same seat inside theSpaceXCrew Dragon capsuleEndeavour which her husband,Bob Behnken used inSpaceX Demo-2, the first mission of theEndeavour capsule.[9]
Crew-2 launched and docked with the ISS in April 2021, beginning their 6 month mission. It splashed down in theGulf of Mexico in November 2021.
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In 2022, SpaceX's Dragon former support vesselGO Searcher was renamedMegan along withGO Navigator asShannon afterSpaceX Crew-1 astronaut,Shannon Walker. A SpaceX fairing recovery/droneship support vessel was named after her husband asBob in 2021. In 2021, McArthur was selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst.[10]
McArthur is married to fellow astronautBob Behnken, and they have one son.[11]
She appeared as an animated version of herself in seasons 4 and 7 ofBlaze and the Monster Machines.
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
NASA Astronaut Group 17 ← NASA Astronaut Group 18 →NASA Astronaut Group 19 | |||||||
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