Charles F. Bolden Jr.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a retired Marine Corps major general, naval aviator, test pilot, four-time shuttle astronaut, and former NASA Administrator. His career spans combat aviation, Hubble deployment, Earth-science missions, early U.S.-Russian shuttle cooperation, and agency leadership.
- Born
- August 19, 1946
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Columbia, South Carolina,United States
Flights
4
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
28 days, 8 hours, 37 minutes
Bio
Bolden graduated from the United States Naval Academy and became a Marine aviator, flying combat missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. He later trained as a test pilot and joined NASA in the 1980 astronaut group.
He piloted STS-61-C and STS-31, the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, then commanded STS-45 and STS-60. STS-60 included Sergei Krikalev and became the first shuttle flight with a Russian cosmonaut aboard.
After leaving the astronaut office, Bolden held senior Marine Corps commands and later led NASA from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African American to serve as NASA Administrator on a permanent basis.