Shannon Walker

Shannon Walker was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in 2004.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, as well as Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Space Physics, all from Rice University in Houston.  Dr. Walker’s first space flight was in 2010, a long-duration mission on the International Space Station (ISS).  

She served as the pilot on the Soyuz spacecraft that took her and her crew to the ISS and served as a Flight Engineer on the Station for Expeditions 24 and 25.  That mission lasted 163 days, with 161 of them on the ISS.  Her second mission was also a long-duration flight on the ISS.  This time she was a Mission Specialist on the Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle named Resilience, which launched in November of 2020.  She was a Flight Engineer on the ISS during Expedition 64 and was the ISS Commander for Expedition 65 until her crew returned to Earth in May of 2021.  This mission totaled 167 days. Dr. Walker is currently the Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.