Eric Boe Eric Allen Boe ( born October 1 , 1964 ) is a United States Air Force fighter pilot Colonel , test pilot and a NASA astronaut . He flew as the pilot of Space Shuttle missions STS - 126 and STS - 133 . Early life and education . Boe was born in Miami , Florida , and grew up in Atlanta , Georgia . He graduated from Henderson High School , Chamblee , Georgia in 1983 . He was a cadet in the Georgia Wing of the Civil Air Patrol . While a cadet , Boe earned the General Carl A Spaatz Award , the highest award given to Civil Air Patrol cadets . Colonel Boe is still a Senior Member in the Texas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol , along with his son who recently became a Cadet . He earned a Bachelor of Science in Astronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1987 , and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1997 . He is married to the former Kristen Newman of Thousand Oaks , California , and they have two children . Military career . Boe was commissioned from the Air Force Academy in 1987 . He completed Euro - NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training ( ENJJPT ) at Sheppard Air Force Base , Texas in 1988 . Following transition training in the F - 4 Phantom II , he was then assigned to the 3d Tactical Fighter Squadron at Clark Air Base in the Philippines as a combat ready pilot in the F - 4E . In 1991 , he served as a T - 38 instructor pilot in the 50th Flying Training Squadron , and as an AT - 38B instructor pilot in the 49th Fighter Training Squadron at Columbus AFB , Mississippi . In 1994 , following transition training in the F - 15 Eagle at Tyndall AFB , Florida , he was assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing ' s 60th Fighter Squadron at Eglin AFB , Florida , serving as a flight commander in the F - 15C . He flew 55 combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch after the first Gulf War . In 1997 , he attended the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB , California . After graduation he was assigned as the Director of Test , Air - to - Air Missile Test Division , 46th Test Wing , Eglin AFB , where he served as a test pilot flying the A / B / C / D and E models of the F - 15 and the UH - 1N helicopter . He has logged over 4 , 000 flight hours in more than 45 different aircraft . NASA career . Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000 , Boe reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 2000 . Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation , he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Advanced Vehicles Branch and Station Operations Branch . His current technical assignment involves work with displays and controls for future space vehicles . He made his first trip to space as pilot of during STS - 126 on November 14 , 2008 . Boe flew his second space flight as pilot on STS - 133 , the final scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle " Discovery " and the third - to - last flight of the Space Shuttle program . In August 2012 , Boe was named Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office . Awards and honors . Boe is a distinguished graduate with honors from the United States Air Force Academy , and was awarded the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship for graduate studies . In addition to his current U . S . Air Force aeronautical rating of Command Pilot / Astronaut , his personal military decorations and service awards include :