Frederick Hauck Frederick Hamilton " Rick " Hauck ( pronounced " Howk " ) is a retired Captain in the United States Navy , a former fighter pilot and NASA astronaut . He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS - 7 and commanded STS - 51 - A and STS - 26 . Personal data . He was born April 11 , 1941 in Long Beach , California , but considers Winchester , Massachusetts and Washington , D . C . to be his hometowns . His parents are the late Captain and Mrs . Phillip F . Hauck . His maternal grandfather , Olaf M . Hustvedt , was a United States Navy vice admiral who commanded battleship s during World War II . Rick is married to Susan Cameron Bruce . During his spare time , he enjoys skiing , sailing , kayaking , golf , tennis , and working on his 1958 Corvette . Currently , he is President and Chief Executive Officer of AXA Space , Inc . Experience . Hauck , a Naval ROTC student at Tufts University , was commissioned upon graduation in 1962 and reported to , where he served 20 months as communications officer and Combat Information Center officer . In 1964 , he attended the Naval Postgraduate School , Monterey , California , for studies in mathematics and physics and for a brief time in 1965 studied the Russian language at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey . Selected for the Navy ’ s Advanced Science Program , he received a master ’ s degree in Nuclear Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology the next year . He commenced flight training at the Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida in 1966 , and was designated a Naval Aviator , receiving his aviator wings in 1968 . As a pilot with Attack Squadron 35 he deployed to the Western Pacific with Carrier Air Wing Fifteen aboard , flying 114 combat and combat support missions . In August 1970 , Hauck joined Attack Squadron 42 as a visual weapons delivery instructor in the A - 6 Intruder . Selected for test pilot training , he reported to the U . S . Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River , Maryland in 1971 . A 3 - year tour in the Naval Air Test Center ’ s Carrier Suitability Branch of the Flight Test Division followed . During this period , Hauck served as a project test pilot for automatic carrier landing systems in the A - 6 Intruder , A - 7 Corsair II , F - 4 Phantom and F - 14 Tomcat aircraft and was team leader for the Navy Board of Inspection and Survey aircraft carrier trials of the F - 14 . In 1974 , he reported as operations officer to Commander , Carrier Air Wing Fourteen aboard . On two cruises he flew the A - 6 , A - 7 , and F - 14 during both day and night carrier operations . He reported to Attack Squadron 145 as Executive Officer in February 1977 . NASA selected Hauck as an astronaut candidate in January 1978 . He was pilot for STS - 7 , the seventh flight of the Space Shuttle , which launched from Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on June 18 , 1983 . The crew included Robert Crippen ( spacecraft commander ) , and three mission specialists , John Fabian , Sally Ride , and Norm Thagard . This was the second flight for the orbiter " Challenger " and the first mission with a 5 - person crew . During the mission , the STS - 7 crew deployed satellites for Canada ( ANIK - C2 ) and Indonesia ( Palapa B - 1 ) ; operated the Canadian - built Remote Manipulator System ( RMS ) to perform the first deployment and retrieval exercise ( with the Shuttle Pallet Satellite ( SPAS - 01 ) ) ; and with Crippen conducted the first piloting of the orbiter in close proximity to a free - flying satellite ( SPAS - 01 ) . Mission duration was 147 hours before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base , California , on June 24 , 1983 . Hauck was spacecraft commander for the second mission of " Discovery " on mission STS - 51 - A , which launched on November 8 , 1984 . His crew included Dave Walker ( pilot ) , and three mission specialists , Joseph Allen , Anna Fisher , and Dale Gardner . During the mission the crew deployed two satellites , Telesat Canada ’ s Anik D - 2 , and Hughes ’ LEASAT - 1 ( Syncom IV - 1 ) . In the first space salvage mission in history , the crew also retrieved for return to earth the Palapa B - 2 and Westar VI satellites . STS - 51 - A completed 127 orbits of the earth before landing at Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on November 16 , 1984 . In March 1985 Captain Hauck became the Astronaut Office project officer for the integration of the liquid - fueled Centaur upper stage rocket into the Shuttle . In May 1985 he was named Commander of the Centaur - boosted Ulysses solar probe mission , STS - 61 - F ( sponsored by the European Space Agency ) . It was set to launch in a tight launch window in May 1986 . After the " Challenger " accident this mission was postponed , and the Shuttle Centaur project was terminated . In August 1986 , Captain Hauck was appointed NASA Associate Administrator for External Relations , the policy advisor to the NASA Administrator for congressional , public , international , inter - governmental , and educational affairs . He resumed his astronaut duties at the Johnson Space Center in early February 1987 . Hauck was spacecraft commander of " Discovery " on STS - 26 , the first flight to be flown after the " Challenger " accident . The mission launched on September 29 , 1988 . The flight crew included the pilot , Richard Covey , and three mission specialists , David Hilmers , Mike Lounge , and George Nelson . During the four - day mission , the crew deployed the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite ( TDRS - C ) and operated eleven mid - deck experiments . " Discovery " completed 64 orbits of the earth before landing at Edwards Air Force Base , California , on October 3 , 1988 . Hauck has logged over 5500 flight hours , 436 in space . In May 1989 he became Director , Navy Space Systems Division , in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations . In this capacity he held budgeting responsibility for the Navy ’ s space programs . Captain Hauck left military active duty on June 1 , 1990 . In October 1990 , he joined AXA Space ( formerly INTEC ) as President and Chief Operating Officer , and on January 1 , 1993 assumed responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer . AXA Space is a world leader in providing property and casualty insurance for the risk of launching and operating satellites . He retired from AXA Space in April 2005 . Information current . Special honors . Source : NASA biographical page