Astronaut Douglas G. Hurley

NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley.
NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley. Photo credit: SpaceX
  • Demo-2 Spacecraft Commander
  • Responsible for activities such as launch, landing and recovery
NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley suits up for launch on May 30, 2020. Image credit: NASA TV

Douglas G. Hurley was selected as an astronaut in 2000. A veteran of two spaceflights, he was the pilot on STS‐127 and STS‐135. Before joining NASA, he was a fighter pilot and test pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps and has logged over 5,500 hours in more than 25 aircraft.

The New York native flew as the pilot aboard space shuttle Endeavour on STS-127, an assembly mission to the International Space Station, in 2009. On his second flight, he served as the pilot aboard space shuttle Atlantis on the program’s final mission, STS-135, in 2011. He has logged more than 680 hours in space.

Astronaut Doug Hurley, STS-135 pilot, is pictured at the pilot’s station on the flight deck of space shuttle Atlantis during the mission’s third day in space. The photo was made by a crewmate shortly before the shuttle and the International Space Station docked, July 10, 2011. Photo credit: NASA

“Doug is ready for anything, all the time. He is always prepared,” Behnken said of Hurley. “Knowing you’re going to fly into space on a test mission, you couldn’t ask for a better person or a better type of individual to be there with you. I’m just grateful that, doing something like this, I’m doing it with Doug Hurley, because he’s going to be prepared for whatever comes our way.”