Astronaut Megan McArthur has retired from NASA, ending greater than 20 years with the house company.
McArthur launched on two spaceflights, logging 213 days in orbit throughout her practically 25 years, and held management positions at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She lifted off on her first mission in 2009, aboard house shuttle Atlantis on the STS-125 mission — the ultimate servicing flight to the Hubble Space Telescope. She later grew to become the primary girl to pilot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which ferried her to the International Space Station (ISS) for her first and solely long-duration mission, in 2021.
Both assignments solidified McArthur’s place in NASA history as the last astronaut to physically interface with Hubble, and one of the first to steer the space agency into an era of commercial spaceflight.
McArthur was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and moved frequently around the country with her family as a “Navy kid,” according to a NASA statement. She studied aerospace engineering at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) earlier than incomes a doctorate in oceanography from UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution. She was chosen in 2000 as a member of NASA’s latest astronaut class on the time.
She is married to NASA astronaut Bob Behnken, who piloted Crew Dragon Endeavor on SpaceX’s first crewed flight, Demo-2, in 2020. McArthur launched on the identical spacecraft slightly below a 12 months later for her crew rotation stint aboard the ISS.
That mission, Crew-2, launched in April 2021 and was SpaceX’s second operational mission to the orbital lab. McArthur and three crewmates spent six months aboard the ISS, the place she served as flight engineer for Expeditions 65/66. While on orbit, she supported station upkeep and analysis investigations into human physiology, robotics and supplies science.
McArthur flew aboard Atlantis in May 2009 as part of NASA’s closing flight to conduct repairs and upgrades to Hubble. During the two-week STS-125 mission, McArthur operated the shuttle’s robotic arm to grapple the house telescope whereas her crewmates labored on the observatory over the course of 5 spacewalks.
Hubble was already approaching its second decade in house throughout STS-125. Thanks to that servicing mission, the enduring observatory has offered unprecedented views of the cosmos and discoveries over the greater than 15 years since McArthur’s mission, and continues to function at this time. NASA credit McArthur because the final particular person to “touch” the observatory after releasing Hubble from Atlantis’s robotic arm on the finish of the STS-125 mission, NASA’s assertion provides.
“Her contributions have helped shape the future of human space exploration, and we are incredibly grateful for her service,” mentioned appearing JSC Director Steve Koerner within the assertion.
Between her two spaceflights, McArthur joined the ranks of NASA management on the Johnson Space Center in Houston. In 2017, she started her place because the assistant director of flight operations for the ISS, and in 2019 grew to become deputy division chief of the Astronaut Office, the place she supported astronaut coaching and growth.
In 2022, McArthur joined JSC’s public customer facility, Space Center Houston, as chief science officer, the place she works to advertise spaceflight and STEM (science, know-how, engineering and math) themes to college students and households visiting the middle. She will proceed this function after her NASA departure.
“It was an incredible privilege to serve as a NASA astronaut, working with scientists from around the world on cutting-edge research that continues to have a lasting impact here on Earth and prepares humanity for future exploration at the moon and Mars,” McArthur mentioned within the assertion. “Seeing our beautiful planet from space makes it so clear how fragile and precious our home is, and how vital it is that we protect it. I am grateful I had the opportunity to contribute to this work, and I’m excited to watch our brilliant engineers and scientists at NASA conquer new challenges and pursue further scientific discoveries for the benefit of all.”