Kenneth Todd "Hock" Ham (born December 12, 1964) is a retired American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Ham was selected for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

's astronaut program in August 1998, while serving as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet lead carrier suitability

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

. Ham's aviator call sign is "Hock". As of July 2013, Captain Ham served as the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

, in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. Captain Ham has worked for Bigelow Aerospace in North Las Vegas as of August 2014.

Early life and education

Ken Ham was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, to Ed and Marion Ham. He graduated from

Arthur L. Johnson High School Arthur L. Johnson High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Clark and Garwood in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Clark Public ...

in Clark, New Jersey in 1983, where he had started taking flying lessons at the suggestion of a high school guidance counselor. He then went on to the

, graduating in 1987 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. In 1996, he earned a Master of Science degree in

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is sim ...

from the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD c ...

. A Distinguished Graduate of the

U.S. Naval Test Pilot School The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, provides instruction to experienced United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and foreign military experi ...

, Ham is also a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association.

Military career

After earning his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy in May 1987, Ham received flight training in T-34C, T-2C, and TA-4J aircraft. Ham was designated a

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-bas ...

in October 1989, and subsequently received

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now pa ...

training. His operational assignments included stints with VFA-132 and VFA-105 fighter squadrons. During a temporary assignment to NASA's Johnson Space Center in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Ham served as a crew member aboard NASA's reduced gravity research aircraft—a

KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of trans ...

nicknamed the " Vomit Comet". At the Naval Postgraduate School/Test Pilot School, Ham participated in a

cooperative program The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wo ...

, studying

for 18 months, followed by 12 months of test pilot training. He was selected as one of five Navy pilots on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Integrated Test Team, responsible for developing a new fleet aircraft. In this role, Ham conducted flight tests involving arrested landings, catapult assisted takeoffs, weapon separation, and evaluation of the aircraft's propulsion stability, performance and general flying qualities. During two deployments to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

, Ham conducted combat missions over Bosnia and North

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, serving as an air wing strike leader, F/A-18 demonstration pilot, and night vision goggle instructor. He has over 6,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft types, with over 300 shipboard and 300 land-based arrested landings.

Astronaut career

Ham has served as

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', ''Mega Man'', ''De ...

for

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

ascent/entry and orbit, as well as the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(ISS). His most recent CAPCOM assignment was for

's "return to flight" mission,

STS-114 STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. ''Discovery'' launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC), July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of ''Co ...

, of the Space Shuttle. He made his first spaceflight as pilot of

STS-124 STS-124 was a Space Shuttle mission, flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' to the International Space Station. ''Discovery'' launched on 31 May 2008 at 17:02 EDT, moved from an earlier scheduled launch date of 25 May 2008, and landed safely at ...

, in which ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

'' flew to the International Space Station in June 2008. He also flew as the commander of mission STS-132, which launched on May 14, 2010 and landed on May 26, 2010.

Personal life

Ham was married to Michelle Ham ( a NASA coworker ) of Hobart, Indiana, and has two children, Ryan and Randy, from a previous marriage to Linda Hautzinger Ham. His recreational interests include baseball,

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This i ...

, weight lifting,

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, snow skiing, water skiing, skydiving and

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

. On October 7, 2014, Ham was inducted into the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame for his contributions to spaceflight and aviation throughout his career. Also in his spare time, he has been the resident astronaut on the ISSET run program Mission Discovery, where he shares his experiences with teenagers and tries to help them learn new skills throughout the length of time the program runs.

References

External links