# Nick Hague

Tyler Nicklaus "Nick" Hague (born 24 September 1975) is a United States Space Force colonel and a NASA astronaut of the class of 2013. Selected to be a flight engineer on the International Space Station (ISS), his first launch was on Soyuz MS-10, which aborted shortly after take-off on 11 October 2018. His second launch, on 14 March 2019, was successful, taking him and his fellow Soyuz MS-12 crew members to join ISS Expedition 59/60. Hague served as the commander of SpaceX Crew-9 flight to the ISS, transporting the crew of Expedition 72. At the station, they were joined by astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore that were previously part of the June 2024 Boeing Crew Flight Test. All four crew members of Crew-9 are scheduled to return to Earth on March 18, 2025.

## Education

Hague was born in Belleville, Kansas in 1975. He attended Peabody-Burns Elementary School, in Peabody, Kansas, while his father was the principal of Peabody-Burns High School from 1982 to 1989. In 1994, Nick graduated from Hoxie High School in Hoxie, Kansas, while his father was superintendent of the school district.
In 1998, he completed a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy and continued to study and graduate with a MS in Aerospace Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000.

## U.S. Air Force and Space Force career

Hague joined the U.S. Air Force and was commissioned as second lieutenant in May 1998. He was assigned to the Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico in August 2000, working on advanced spacecraft technologies.
In 2003, Hague attended the United States Air Force Test Pilot School, in Edwards Air Force Base, California. Following graduation in 2004, he was assigned to the 416th Flight Test Squadron and tested the F-16, F-15 and T-38 aircraft.
Hague was deployed in Iraq for five months in 2004, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, and conducting experimental airborne reconnaissance.
In 2006, Hague started teaching courses in the Department of Astronautics faculty at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado. He has taught courses in introductory astronautics, linear control system analysis and design.
In 2009, Hague received a fellowship for the Air Force Fellows program in Washington, D.C.
From 2012 until 2013 Hague worked in the Department of Defense as Deputy Chief of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization.
Hague was promoted to colonel in 2016. His transfer to the U.S. Space Force was approved in December 2020. In 2019, Hague served as the Space Force's director of Test and Evaluation at the Pentagon.
Although Colonel Michael S. Hopkins became the first Space Force guardian in space when he transferred from the Air Force to the Space Force while onboard the International Space Station, Hague is the first guardian to launch into space.

## NASA career

Hague was selected by NASA as part of Astronaut Group 21 and completed training in July 2015, making him available for future missions.
Hague was the first astronaut of the 2013 NASA astronaut class to be selected for a mission; he was slated to be a flight engineer for Expedition 57/58.

### Soyuz MS-10 (aborted)

On 11 October 2018, Hague and Aleksey Ovchinin boarded Soyuz MS-10, destined for the International Space Station, but the launch was aborted mid-flight due to a booster failure; the crew landed safely after pulling over 6 Gs on a ballistic descent, minutes from launch. The Soyuz flight was aborted at an altitude of around 50 kilometers (31 miles) and the spacecraft reached an apogee of 93 km (58 mi) before landing 19 minutes and 41 seconds after launch, according to a preliminary official report. Hague would thus be entitled to Air Force astronaut wings for this aborted flight, as the USAF defines the boundary of space at 50 miles (80 kilometres), but did not quite cross the internationally-accepted Kármán line at 62 miles. As a result, NASA considered this to be Hague's first spaceflight, unlike RSA, and the two agencies therefore count subsequent flights differently. Hague was awarded a special NASA Astronaut Pin made of tin in recognition of his survival of Soyuz MS-10.

### Expedition 59/60

Hague launched successfully to the ISS on 14 March 2019, travelling on Soyuz MS-12 with Russian Commander Aleksey Ovchinin and fellow American astronaut Christina Koch. The trio joined Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineers David Saint-Jacques and Anne McClain on Expedition 59. After the departure of Kononenko, Saint-Jacques and McClain in July 2019, Ovchinin, Hague and Koch will transfer over to Expedition 60, with Ovchinin taking command of the station, and would subsequently return to Earth in early October 2019. According to a Russian news site, it was under consideration that Hague would stay on the ISS after the landing of Soyuz MS-12 and instead land with Soyuz MS-15, this mission would happen in order to fly a cosmonaut from the United Arab Emirates' Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, who would launch on Soyuz MS-15 and land on Soyuz MS-12 ten or so days later. If Hague had undertaken the mission then he would have spent over 14 months on the ISS, the only other space mission to last around that long was Valeri Polyakov's Soyuz TM-18/Soyuz TM-20 mission to the Mir space station, which lasted 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes, the longest single stay in space in history. In an interview with Space.com in February 2019, Hague stated that his mission would be lasting 204 days, meaning the prospect of him staying 14 months on the station was off the table.
On 22 March 2019, Hague and Anne McClain performed their first spacewalk to install the adapter plates while Dextre swaps the batteries between spacewalks. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes. They also removed debris from the Unity Module in preparation for the arrival of Cygnus NG-11 in April, stowing tools for the repair of the flex hose rotary coupler, and securing tiebacks on the solar array blanket boxes.
Hague performed his second EVA together with Christina Koch. Originally designated to be the first "all-female" EVA, Hague was reassigned to it after space suit issues prevented both women from going on the EVA. EVA lasted 6 hours and 45 minutes.
On 21 August, Hague performed his third EVA, together with Andrew Morgan. During the 6-hour, 32-minute EVA the astronauts installed a new International Docking Adapter. During the EVA, Hague wore the Artemis program logo on his suit.

### Expedition 72

Hague served as the commander of SpaceX Crew-9 flight to the International Space Station, transporting the crew of Expedition 72.
Hague, who was initially slated to be the pilot of Crew-9, was appointed commander following a change in mission plans. The mission was originally slated to launch four crew members: NASA astronaut Zena Cardman as commander, Hague as a pilot, Stephanie Wilson as a mission specialist, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as a mission specialist. However, technical issues with the Boeing Starliner necessitated an uncrewed return and the launch of Crew-9 with two open seats to bring back the Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts.
Following the announcement that the Starliner would return uncrewed, NASA named Hague commander of Crew-9. This decision, made after internal discussions within the agency, prioritized Hague's experience on prior spaceflights. To accommodate the crew changes, Hague and Gorbunov (who would now occupy the pilot's seat) collaborated with SpaceX, NASA, Cardman, and Wilson for three weeks to identify how Hague could assume many of the tasks typically divided between the commander and pilot, and determine which tasks could be assigned to Gorbunov.
Hague performed his fourth EVA on 16 January 2025 alongside Expedition 72 commander Sunita Williams. During the six-hour spacewalk led by Hague, the pair replaced a rate gyro assembly that helps provide orientation control for the station, installed patches to cover damaged areas on the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) X-ray telescope, replaced a reflector device used by spacecraft docking to the International Docking Adapter on the Harmony module's zenith side and performed checks on access areas and tools that will be used for future maintenance work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. During the EVA Hague wore the Space Force Delta on his arm along with the Space Force motto "Semper Supra" (Latin for 'always above').

## Honors and awards

During his service in the Air Force and Space Force, Hague has received the following awards:
* Senior Astronaut Observer Badge
* Senior Space Operations Badge
* Space Staff Badge
* USAF Test Pilot School Graduate Patch
* Defense Superior Service Medal
* Legion of Merit with one bronze oak leaf cluster
* Distinguished Flying Cross
* Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster
* Meritorious Service Medal
* Air Medal with one silver oak leaf cluster
* Aerial Achievement Medal with one bronze oak leaf cluster
* Air and Space Commendation Medal with two bronze oak leaf clusters
* Combat Action Medal
* Joint Meritorious Unit Award
* Meritorious Unit Award
* Air and Space Outstanding Unit Award with one bronze oak leaf cluster
* Air and Space Organizational Excellence Award with two bronze oak leaf clusters
* Air and Space Recognition Ribbon
* National Defense Service Medal with one bronze service star
* Iraq Campaign Medal with one bronze service star
* Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
* Air and Space Expeditionary Service Ribbon with gold frame
* Air and Space Longevity Service Award with one silver and one bronze oak leaf clusters
* Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon
* Air and Space Training Ribbon
* Distinguished Graduate, United States Air Force Academy
* Distinguished Graduate and top flight test engineer, United States Air Force Test Pilot School Class 03A
Additionally, he was awarded the Order of Courage by the Russian Federation for his actions during the aborted flight of Soyuz MS-10.

## Personal life

Hague met his wife, Col. Catie Hague, in 1996 at the Air Force Academy. They have two sons. Hague is a Doctor Who fan.