Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Col. Tyler N. Hague, a NASA astronaut, waits to be lowered into the pool containing a mock-up of the International Space Station at the Johnson Space Flight Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for Extravehicular Activity training in Houston, Texas, April 27, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr.)US Air Force Astronaut Col. Nick Hague makes second launch to ISS
                        
                        
                        Col. Tyler N. Hague, a NASA astronaut, waits to be lowered into the pool containing a mock-up of the International Space Station at the Johnson Space Flight Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory for Extravehicular Activity training in Houston, Texas, April 27, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr.)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

US Air Force Astronaut Col. Nick Hague makes second launch to ISSPublished March 14, 2019
                    
                    
                    Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs
            **Arlington, Va. (AFNS) --**Few Airman astronauts have aborted their space flight mission after launch, and even fewer received the opportunity to relaunch just months later.
Col. Nick Hague, an astronaut, is scheduled for a second mission to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz MS-12, March 14, 2019, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Hague, who is set to join the Expedition 59 crew, will conduct hundreds of research investigations and technology demonstrations to advance scientific knowledge of Earth, space, physical and biological sciences, according to NASA.
On Oct. 11, 2018, Hague and his commander, Russian astronaut Alexey Ochinin, were forced to abort their mission when their rocket booster failed to detach once they reached zero gravity.
“We (were) at the apex of our trajectory, and I’m staring out there at the curve of the Earth, and the darkness of space ... you’re so close you can touch it,” Hague said. “And to have that ripped out of your hands, that’s devastating.”
As they plummeted to Earth at 4,700 miles per hour, Hague’s years of Air Force training enabled his life-saving response.
“The career I had leading up to that launch prepared me to respond to that situation,” Hague said. “It wasn’t my first in-flight emergency – we had those when I was doing flight testing out at Edwards Air Force Base (California). I think what you realize as you gain these experiences is the best thing you can do in the situation to help yourself is maintain your cool and trust in your training.”
Hague began training with NASA in 2013, and learned to handle maintenance activities, maintain the space station as a national laboratory for research and conduct space walks to fix issues outside the station. A sizable amount of his training also included learning to fly the Soyuz with Ochinin.
“There’s this common understanding we have with each other ... that even though I may be speaking broken Russian to him, and he’s speaking broken English to me, we understand each other,” Hague said. “We’ve been able to sit in the simulator over the last year and a half, to the point where we know how each other is thinking and we anticipate each other’s moves and we’re backing each other up ... it feels like a well-oiled machine and no different than any crew I could put together in the U.S. – we’re in it together.”
Though his arrival to the ISS was temporarily delayed, Hague knows the information gathered from this mission will be worth it.
“The mission we’re doing is so important,” Hague said after his initial launch. “It’s a mission where we’re going up there and collecting data so the scientists on the ground can better understand our world, they can better understand our bodies, they can better understand the world around us ... and that’s a vital mission that’s benefitting all of humanity.
“Just because there’s some bumps in the road, or some obstacles, doesn’t mean we give up,” he continued. “We learn from our failures and we move forward.”*(Editor’s Note: Quotes from this article were pulled from The Air Force Podcast with Col. Nick Hague, NASA Astronaut. The podcast in its entirety can be found under related links.)*SecAF 



Secretary of the Air Force 



Air Force 



NASA 



AF 



Edwards AFB 



astronauts 



International Space Station 



Air Force Base 



Earth 



Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson 



ISS 



Soyuz MS-12 



Expedition 59 



gravity 



Airmen

Related Links
        Air Force Podcast ft. Col. Nick Hague Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil