Scott Altman Scott Douglas " Scooter " Altman ( born 15 August 1959 ) is a United States Navy Captain test pilot and former NASA astronaut . He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions . His fourth mission on STS - 125 was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope . Personal . Born in Lincoln , Illinois , Scott is married to the former Jill Shannon Loomer of Tucson , Arizona . They have three children , the second oldest of whom , Alex , graduated Rice University in Houston , Texas in May 2009 . Hometown is Pekin , Illinois , where his parents , Fred and Sharon Altman , currently reside . Scott ' s sister Sarah Beardsley is the publisher of Venus Zine , a women ' s music , DIY and culture multi - media company . His callsigns have been " D - Bear " and " Scooter " . He is a brother of the Sigma Chi Fraternity . Military career . Commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in August 1981 , and received his Naval Aviator wings in February 1983 . As a member of Fighter Squadron 51 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar , Altman completed two deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean flying the F - 14A Tomcat . In August 1987 , he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School - Test Pilot School Co - op program and graduated with Test Pilot School Class 97 in June 1990 as a Distinguished Graduate . After graduation , he spent the next two years as a test pilot working on various F - 14 projects . Altman then took the new F - 14D on its first operational deployment with VF - 31 Tomcatters , where he served as maintenance officer and later operations officer . He was awarded the Navy Air Medal for his role as a strike leader flying over Southern Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch . Shortly following his return from this six month deployment , he was selected for the NASA astronaut program . He has logged over 7 , 000 flight hours in more than 40 types of aircraft . He also performed many of the aerial stunts in the film " Top Gun " , and was the pilot that " flipped the bird " at the enemy Mig pilot . NASA career . Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994 , Altman reported to the Lyndon B . Johnson Space Center in March 1995 . He completed a year of training and was initially assigned to work technical aspects of orbiter landing and roll out issues for the Astronaut Office Vehicle Systems Branch . He was the pilot on STS - 90 ( 1998 ) and STS - 106 ( 2000 ) , and was the mission commander on STS - 109 ( 2002 ) and STS - 125 ( 2009 ) . A veteran of four space flights , Altman has logged over 40 days in space . Altman retired from NASA in September 2010 to join Asrc Research and Technology Solutions in Greenbelt , Maryland . Spaceflights . STS - 90 Neurolab ( April 17 to May 3 , 1998 ) . During the 16 - day Spacelab flight the seven person crew aboard Space Shuttle " Columbia " served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system . STS - 106 " Atlantis " ( September 8 – 20 , 2000 ) . During the 12 - day mission , the crew successfully prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew . Additionally , he handflew two complete flyarounds of the station after undocking . STS - 109 " Columbia " ( March 1 – 12 , 2002 ) . STS - 109 was the fourth Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) servicing mission . The STS - 109 crew successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit , a new camera and new solar arrays . HST servicing and upgrade was accomplished by four crewmembers during a total of 5 EVAs in 5 consecutive days . The space walkers were assisted by crewmates inside Space Shuttle " Columbia " . STS - 109 orbited the Earth 165 times , and covered 3 . 9 million miles in over 262 hours , culminating in a night landing at Kennedy Space Center , Florida . STS - 125 " Atlantis " ( May 11 – 24 , 2009 ) . STS - 125 was the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope . Atlantis carried two new instruments to the telescope , the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3 . The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor , six gyroscopes , and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014 . The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection , and a soft - capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de - orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan . The mission also carried an IMAX camera and the crew documented the progress of the mission for an upcoming IMAX film . Top Gun . In a NASA interview prior to his 2000 spaceflight , Scott Altman commented on his role as an F - 14 pilot involved in the filming of " Top Gun " :