Eric Allen Boe (born October 1, 1964) is a retired

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

, and

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 ...

, and an active

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

. He flew as the pilot of

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

missions STS-126 and STS-133.

Early life and education

Boe was born in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, and grew up in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He graduated from Henderson High School, Chamblee, Georgia, in 1983. He was a cadet in the Georgia Wing of the

Civil Air Patrol Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered, federally supported Nonprofit corporation, non-profit corporation that serves as the official civilian auxiliaries, auxiliary of the United States Air Force (USAF). CA ...

. While a cadet, Eric Boe earned the General Carl A Spaatz Award, the highest award given to Civil Air Patrol cadets. Boe is still a senior member in the Texas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, along with his son, who recently became a cadet. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in astronautical engineering from the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

in 1987, and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1997. He is married to the former Kristen Newman of

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

, and they have two children.

Military career

Boe was commissioned from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1987. He completed Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) at Sheppard Air Force Base,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in 1988. Following transition training in the F-4 Phantom II, he was then assigned to the 3d Tactical Fighter Squadron at Clark Air Base in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

as a combat-ready pilot in the F-4E. In 1991, he served as a T-38 instructor pilot in the 50th Flying Training Squadron, and as an AT-38B instructor pilot in the 49th Fighter Training Squadron at Columbus AFB,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. In 1994, following transition training in the F-15 Eagle at Tyndall AFB,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, he was assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing's 60th Fighter Squadron at Eglin AFB, Florida, serving as a flight commander in the F-15C. He flew 55 combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch after the first

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

. In 1997, he attended the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. After graduation, he was assigned as the director of test, Air-to-Air Missile Test Division, 46th Test Wing, Eglin AFB, where he served as a test pilot flying the A/B/C/D and E models of the F-15 and the UH-1N helicopter. He has logged over 6,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft. STS-133 ISS-26 Eric Boe works in the newly-installed PMM Leonardo

STS-133 ISS-26 Eric Boe works in the newly-installed PMM Leonardo

NASA career

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000, Boe reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 2000. Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch and Station Operations Branch. His current technical assignment involves work with displays and controls for future space vehicles. He made his first trip to space as pilot of during STS-126 on November 14, 2008. Boe flew his second space flight as pilot on STS-133, the final scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' and the third-to-last flight of the Space Shuttle program. In August 2012, Boe was named Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. In July 2015, NASA announced Boe as one of the first astronauts for U.S. Commercial spaceflights. Subsequently, he has started working with

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

and

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

to train in their commercial crew vehicles, along with the other chosen astronauts – Sunita Williams, Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley. In August 2018 he was assigned to Boe-CFT, the first test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner. On January 22, 2019, NASA announced that Boe was unable to fly for medical reasons and replaced him with Michael Fincke.

Awards and honors

Boe is a distinguished graduate with honors from the United States Air Force Academy, and was awarded the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship for graduate studies. In addition to his current U.S. Air Force aeronautical rating of Command Pilot/Astronaut, his personal military decorations and service awards include: * Defense Meritorious Service Medal * Meritorious Service Medal * Air Medals (2 awards) * Aerial Achievement Medals (5 awards) * Air Force Commendation Medals (3 awards) * Air Force Achievement Medal * Combat Readiness Medal *

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award The Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award (ASOUA) is one of the unit awards of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It was established in 1954 as the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award and was the first independent Air Force ...

s (3 awards) * National Defense Service Medals (2 awards) * Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal * War on Terrorism Service Medal

References

External links

NASA bio of Boe

Civil Air Patrol article about Boe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boe, Eric Allen 1964 births Living people American test pilots United States Air Force astronauts People from Miami People from Chamblee, Georgia United States Air Force Academy alumni Georgia Tech alumni U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Air Force officers People of the Civil Air Patrol Recipients of the Air Medal Space Shuttle program astronauts Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)