Sturckow

Personal data:

Birthdate:  11 Aug 1961 Birthplace:  La Mesa / California Marital status:  marriedto the former Michele A. Street Children:  two Selection date:  09 Dec 1994 Selection group:  NASA-15 Job:  PLT Status:  active

Spaceflights:

Suborbital Spaceflights (above 80 km):

Additional information

• Sturckow graduated from Grossmont High School, La Mesa, California, in 1978. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 1984, and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Florida Institute of Technology in 2000.
• Sturckow was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps in December 1984. An honor graduate of The Basic School, he earned his aviator wings in April 1987. Following initial F/A-18 training at VFA-125, he reported to VMFA-333, MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina. While assigned to VMFA-333 he made an overseas deployment to Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines and was then selected to attend the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) in March 1990. In August 1990, he deployed to Sheik Isa Air Base, Bahrain for a period of eight months. Sturckow flew a total of forty-one combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. In January 1992 he attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California. In 1993 he reported to the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, for duty as the F/A-18 E/F Project Pilot. Sturckow also flew a wide variety of projects and classified programs as an F/A-18 test pilot.
• Sturckow retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel, in September, 2009, after 25 years of active duty service. He has logged over 6,500 flight hours in more than 60 different aircraft.
• Selected by NASA in December 1994, Sturckow reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. He completed a year of training and evaluation and was assigned to work technical issues for the Vehicle Systems and Operations Branch of the Astronaut Office. He served as pilot on STS-88 in 1998 and on STS-105 in 2001. Sturckow was the commander of the STS-117 and the STS-128 mission. Sturckow was also the launch CAPCOM for STS-130 in February 2010, and for STS-131 in April 2010.
• NASA announced on January 13, 2011 that astronaut Rick Sturckow will serve as a backup commander for the STS-134 space shuttle mission to facilitate continued training for the crew and support teams during STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly′s absence. Kelly′s wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was critically wounded in an attempted assassination on Jan. 8 in Tucson, Arizona.
• Sturckow left NASA in March, 2013. During his 18-year tenure, he served in multiple technical and leadership roles supporting Johnson Space Center′s Astronaut Office including chief of the Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) Branch and chief of the International Space Station Branch.
• On May 8, 2013, Virgin Galactic announced they had hired Sturckow for flight testing of the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and the White Knight Two aircraft, as the company prepares for subsequent commercial operations. On 13 December 2018 he reached outer space with the VSS Unity according to America′s definition of the space border.

External links:

• NASA: From Shuttle to SS2 – Sturckow joins Virgin Galactic