Richard N . Richards Richard Noel " Dick " Richards ( born August 24 , 1946 ) is an American aviator , retired U . S . Navy officer , and a former NASA astronaut . He flew aboard four Space Shuttle missions in the 1980s and 1990s . He was born in Key West , Florida , but considers Houston , Texas , to be his hometown . Married to the former Lois Hollabaugh of Amarillo , Texas . Education . Graduated from Riverview Gardens High School in St . Louis , Missouri , in 1964 ; received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri in 1969 , and a master of science in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida in 1970 . Military career . Richards was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy upon graduating from the University of Missouri in 1969 and was designated a Naval Aviator in August of the following year . From 1970 to 1973 , he flew support missions in the A - 4 Skyhawk and F - 4 Phantom airplanes while assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 ( VAQ - 33 ) at Norfolk Naval Air Station , Virginia . He subsequently reported to Fighter Squadron 103 ( VF - 103 ) and deployed to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean aboard the USS " America " ( CV - 66 ) and USS " Saratoga " ( CV - 60 ) , flying F - 4 airplanes . Selected for test pilot training , he reported to the U . S . Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River , Maryland in 1976 . A tour in the Naval Air Test Center ' s Carrier Systems Branch and F / A - 18A Program Office of the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate followed Test Pilot School graduation . Over the next 3 - 1 / 2 years , Richards served as a project test pilot for automatic carrier landing systems development work in F - 4 and A - 7 aircraft and also conducted approach / landing / catapult flying qualities and catapult minimum end speed performance testing of a prototype " slatted " F - 4S airplane . As carrier suitability project officer for the F / A - 18A Hornet airplane , he made the first shipboard catapults and arrested landings during Initial Sea Trials of the F / A - 18A on board the USS " America " in 1979 . He was reassigned to Fighter Squadron 33 ( VF - 33 ) in May 1980 and was en route to that assignment when notified of his selection as an astronaut candidate . NASA career . Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in May 1980 , Richards became an astronaut in August 1981 . Richards flew on four missions : STS - 28 ( August 8 – 13 , 1989 ) , STS - 41 ( October 6 – 10 , 1990 ) , STS - 50 ( June 25 - July 9 , 1992 ) , and STS - 64 ( September 9 – 20 , 1994 ) - - and logged a total of 33 days , 21 hours , 32 minutes , 15 seconds in space . In April 1995 , Richards left the Astronaut Office and was assigned to the Space Shuttle Program Office at the Johnson Space Center . He was designated as the Mission Director / Manager for the second Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Space Shuttle Mission ( STS - 82 ) , and Mission Manager for the second Tethered Satellite System Space Shuttle mission ( STS - 75 ) . Spaceflights . On his first space flight , Richards was pilot on the crew of STS - 28 aboard the Space Shuttle " Columbia " , which launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on August 8 , 1989 . The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads . After 80 orbits of the Earth , this five - day mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base , California , on August 13 , 1989 . Mission duration was 121 hours 9 seconds . Slightly more than one year later , Richards commanded the crew of STS - 41 . The five - man crew launched aboard the Space Shuttle " Discovery " on October 6 from the Kennedy Space Center , Florida , and landed at Edwards Air Force Base , California , on October 10 , 1990 . During 66 orbits of the Earth , the STS - 41 crew successfully deployed the Ulysses spacecraft , starting this interplanetary probe on its four - year journey , via Jupiter , to investigate the polar regions of the Sun . In June 1992 , Richards commanded the crew of STS - 50 aboard the Space Shuttle " Columbia " . STS - 50 was the first flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory and the first extended duration Orbiter flight . Over a two - week period , the STS - 50 flight crew conducted a wide variety of experiments relating to materials processing and fluid physics in a microgravity environment . At that time this was the longest Space Shuttle flight in history . In September 1994 , Richards commanded the STS - 64 crew aboard the Space Shuttle " Discovery " . Mission highlights included : the first use of a space based laser for environmental research ; deployment and retrieval of a spacecraft in support of solar wind and corona studies ; robotic processing of semiconductors ; maneuvered the robotic arm in proximity to over 100 Shuttle reaction control system jet firings to measure forces imparted to a plume detection instrument in support of future Space Station / Shuttle rendezvous flights ; first untethered spacewalk in 10 years to test a self - rescue jetpack . Mission duration was 10 days , 22 hours , 51 minutes . Post - NASA career . In August 1998 , Richards left NASA to join the Boeing Company . Between 1998 and 2007 he supported NASA via Boeing ’ s Space Shuttle Sustaining Engineering Support Contract . Boeing has over 1 , 000 employees across the United States involved with Space Shuttle flight operations . In 2007 , Richards retired from Boeing as the Deputy Program Manager for Space Shuttle , and now lives in Houston , Texas .