Following retirement of the Space Shuttle, Behnken was
Chief of the Astronaut Office from 2012 to 2015. Assigned to the
SpaceX Dragon 2 in 2018 as part of NASA's
Commercial Crew Program, Behnken launched aboard the spacecraft's first crewed mission with fellow astronaut
Doug Hurley on May 30, 2020, and became one of the first two astronauts launching aboard a commercial orbital spacecraft in spaceflight history.[5] The mission,
Crew Dragon Demo-2, took Behnken and Hurley to the
International Space Station (ISS), where they docked and stayed aboard for 62 days. Behnken completed four spacewalks with NASA Astronaut
Christopher Cassidy.[6]
Behnken's graduate thesis research was in the area of
nonlinear control applied to stabilizing rotating stall and surge in
axial-flow compressors.[9] The research included nonlinear analysis, real-time software implementation development, and extensive hardware construction. During his first two years of
graduate study, Behnken developed and implemented real-time control algorithms and hardware for flexible robotic manipulators.[3]
Air Force career
Before entering graduate school, Behnken was an
Air Force ROTC student at Washington University in St. Louis, and after graduate school was assigned to enter
Air Force active duty at
Eglin AFB,
Florida. While at Eglin, he worked as a technical manager and developmental engineer for new
munitions systems. Behnken was next assigned to attend the
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School Flight Test Engineer's course at
Edwards AFB,
California. After graduating, he was assigned to the
F-22 Combined Test Force (CTF) and remained at Edwards. While assigned to the F-22 program, Behnken was the lead flight test engineer for Raptor 4004 and a special projects test director. These responsibilities included flight test
sortie planning, control room configuration development, and test conduct. Behnken also flew in both the
F-15 and
F-16aircraft in support of the F-22 flight test program.[3]
NASA career
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000, Behnken reported for training in August 2000. Following the completion of 18 months of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch supporting launch and landing operations at
Kennedy Space Center, Florida.[10]
Behnken flew to space for the second time as a mission specialist on
STS-130, which launched at 04:14 EST (09:14 UTC) February 8, 2010. This mission delivered the Tranquility module and Cupola to the International Space Station. Behnken again took part in three spacewalks during this mission.[12]
Distinguished graduate from the USAF Test Pilot School Program (1999)
Recipient of the USAF Test Pilot School Colonel Ray Jones Award as the top
Flight Test Engineer/Flight Test Navigator in class 98B.[3]
SpaceX purchased two ships for towing and supporting
autonomous spaceport drone ship and
fairing recovery operations on the east coast in May 2021. These two ships were named in honour of Behnken and his
Demo-2, crewmate,
Doug Hurley as Doug and Bob. The earlier names of the ships were Ella G and Ingrid respectively.[26]
On January 31, 2023, Behnken was awarded the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor for NASA's SpaceX Demonstration Mission-2 (Demo-2) to the International Space Station in 2020.[27]