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U.S. Army Astronauts

Not many people know that U.S. Army astronauts are playing an integral role in the future of our nation’s space program and are pioneers in space history. In fact, the Army is the only military service routinely providing engineers directly to NASA.

The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command detachment at NASA, which currently has four active duty soldier astronauts and four space operations officers, has always been involved with the space program.   An Army rocket carried the first U.S. astronaut into space, and an Army team was responsible for the launch of Explorer, the first U.S. satellite.

All of the U.S. Army astronauts credit the Army with providing them education, training, and aviation opportunities that helped them fulfill their dreams of becoming an astronaut. 

Col. T.J. Creamer, who currently serves as the Army detachment commander at NASA, is scheduled to launch aboard the Russian Soyuz space capsule for his first mission in December 2009 as part of the International Space Station Expedition 22 crew.

Col. Doug Wheelock, who first traveled to the International Space Station in 2007, will be the first active duty soldier to command the International Space Station in 2010.

Col. Tim Kopra, who was commissioned into the Army after graduating from West Point, traveled to space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour for his first mission in July 2009 as part of the first six-person crew to travel to the International Space Station. Kopra’s fellow Army astronaut, Lt. Col. Shane Kimbrough, helped to expand the space station to accommodate the six-person crew in 2008.

Lt. Col. Shane Kimbrough, who received his degree in aerospace engineering from West Point, went to the International Space Station in 2008 to expand the station to accommodate a six-member crew.  Kimbrough’s fellow Army astronaut, Col. Tim Kopra, will arrive in June 2009 as part of the first six-member space station crew.