List of astronauts

The 31 NASA astronauts educated at MIT are listed below, in order of their selection by NASA.

David R. Scott (SM and EAA in aeronautics and astronautics, 1962), chosen by NASA in 1963, was the first MIT graduate to fly in space as pilot of Gemini 8, which performed the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit in 1966. He was the command module pilot of Apollo 9, which was the first orbital flight test of the Apollo lunar module. He commanded the Apollo 15 lunar landing mission in 1971, which landed in the Hadley-Apennine region, and he became the first astronaut to drive a lunar rover on the moon.

Buzz Aldrin (ScD in aeronautics and astronautics, 1963), selected by NASA in 1963, was the first MIT graduate to walk in space aboard Gemini 12 in 1966. As lunar module pilots of Apollo 11 in July 1969, he and Neil Armstrong accomplished the national goal of landing on the moon and became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface.

Russell L. Schweickart (BS and MS in aeronautics and astronautics, 1963) was selected by NASA in 1963 and served as lunar module pilot on Apollo 9 in 1969, the first flight test of the Apollo lunar module in earth orbit. He conducted the first extravehicular activity (EVA) in the Apollo program.

Edgar D. Mitchell (ScD in aeronautics and astronautics, 1964) was selected in 1966. He became the sixth man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission to the Fra Mauro highlands region in February 1971.

Charles M. Duke Jr. (SM in aeronautics and astronautics, 1964) was selected by NASA in 1966 and explored the lunar surface during the Apollo 16 mission to the Descartes region of the moon in April 1972.

William B. Lenoir (SB 1961, SM 1962 and PhD 1965, all in electrical engineering) was selected in 1967 and flew on STS-5 in 1982, the first operational flight of the space shuttle. He was the first MIT graduate to fly on the space shuttle.

Philip K. Chapman (SM 1964 and ScD 1967 in aeronautics and astronautics) was selected by NASA in 1967. He retired in 1972 without making a spaceflight.

Anthony W. England (SB 1965, SM 1965 and PhD 1970 in earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences or EAPS) was selected as an astronaut in 1967 and flew on the Spacelab 2 mission in 1985.

Ronald E. McNair (PhD in physics, 1977) was selected in 1978, flew on STS-41B in 1984 and perished along with six crewmates in the Challenger space shuttle accident on January 28, 1986.

Frederick H. Hauck (SM in nuclear engineering, 1966) was selected in 1978, flew on STS-7 in 1983 and commanded STS-51A in 1984. He also commanded the first space shuttle mission after the Challenger disaster, STS-26 in 1988. He was also recently selected by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation as one of the four first shuttle astronauts to be inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Terry J. Hart (SM in mechanical engineering, 1969) was selected by NASA in 1978 and flew on STS-41C, which successfully repaired the Solar Max Satellite in 1984.

Franklin R. Chang-Diaz (ScD in nuclear engineering, 1977) was selected by NASA in 1980. He completed six space shuttle missions: STS-61C in 1986, STS-34 which deployed the Galileo spacecraft on its mission to Jupiter in 1989, STS-46 in 1992, STS-60 in 1994, STS-75 in 1996 and STS-91 in 1998. He has logged 1, 269 hours in space and tied the record for number of space flights.