Terence T . Henricks Terence Thomas " Tom " Henricks is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and a former NASA astronaut . He served on four Space Shuttle missions . Personal data . Hendricks was born on July 5 , 1952 , in Bryan , Ohio , but considers Woodville , Ohio , to be his hometown . He graduated from Woodmore High School in 1970 . He is married and has three children . Experience . Henricks completed pilot training at Craig Air Force Base ( AFB ) in Selma , Alabama , and F - 4 Phantom II conversion training at Homestead AFB in Miami , Florida . He then flew the F - 4 in fighter squadrons in England and Iceland . In 1980 , he was reassigned to Nellis AFB , Las Vegas , Nevada . After attending the USAF Test Pilot School in 1983 , he remained at Edwards AFB , California , as an F - 16C test pilot and Chief of the 57th Fighter Weapons Wing Operating Location until his NASA selection . He has 749 parachute jumps and a Master Parachutist rating . He has flown 30 different types of aircraft , has logged over 6 , 000 hours flying time , and holds an FAA commercial pilot rating . NASA experience . Selected by NASA in June 1985 , Henricks became an astronaut in July 1986 . His technical assignments to date include : re - evaluating Shuttle landing sites world wide ; Assistant Manager for Engineering Integration in the Shuttle Program Office ; Lead Astronaut of the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory at Johnson Space Center , and of Vehicle Test and Checkout at the Kennedy Space Center ; Chief of the Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch . He also served as the Assistant for Shuttle to the Chief of the Astronaut Office , directing crew involvement in the development and operation of the Shuttle . A commander of two Space Shuttle missions and pilot of two others , Henricks became the first person to log over 1 , 000 hours as a Space Shuttle pilot / commander . Tom Henricks left government service in November 1997 to pursue a career in business . He held the position of President of McGraw - Hill ' s Aviation Week , based in New York City until his departure in 2010 to pursue other opportunities . Space flight experience . STS - 44 " Atlantis " launched the night of November 24 , 1991 . The primary mission objective was the deployment of a Defense Support Program ( DSP ) satellite with an Inertial Upper Stage ( IUS ) rocket booster . The mission was concluded after 110 orbits of the Earth returning to a landing on the lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base , California , on December 1 , 1991 . STS - 55 , the German D - 2 Spacelab mission , was launched on April 26 , 1993 , aboard " Columbia " , and landed 10 days later on May 6 , 1993 , at Edwards AFB California . During the ambitious mission 89 experiments were performed in many disciplines such as materials processing , life sciences , robotics , technology , astronomy , and Earth mapping . STS - 70 launched from the Kennedy Space Center , Florida , on July 13 , 1995 , and returned there July 22 , 1995 . During 142 orbits of the Earth , the crew performed a variety of experiments in addition to deploying the sixth and final NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite . STS - 70 , with an " all - Ohio " crew , was the first mission controlled from the new combined control center . STS - 78 launched June 20 , 1996 and landed July 7 , 1996 becoming the longest Space Shuttle mission to date ( later that year the STS - 80 mission broke its record by 19 hours . ) The 16 - day mission included studies sponsored by 10 nations and five space agencies , and was the first mission to combine both a full microgravity studies agenda and a comprehensive life science investigation . The Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission served as a model for future studies on board the International Space Station .