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ENJJPT graduate to pilot final flight of Discovery

  • Published
  • By John Ingle
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  A graduate of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program will pilot the last flight of the space shuttle Discovery Nov. 5 when it launches from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Col. Eric Boe, a native of Georgia, graduated from the program in 1988. According to a NASA media advisory, "the spacecraft's STS-133 mission to the International Space States is set to lift off" at 3:04 p.m. EDT. The launch was scheduled for Nov. 1, but electrical issues and weather conditions have caused its delay.

The colonel wasn't available for an interview Nov. 4 because of pre-launch operations. But, the transcript of a pre-flight interview posted on NASA's website provided some insight to how he became an astronaut and his expectations of this mission.

Like most astronauts of today, he said his dream began in 1969 when his parents called him into the living room to watch the first moon landing on black and white TV.

"I don't remember a whole lot, but I do remember as I got older, the emphasis they put on it and as I got older I thought, 'what a neat endeavor that humans had participated in, actually walk on something that you look at often in the night sky,'" he said.

That led to the colonel actively participating in Georgia's Civil Air Patrol, attending the Air Force Academy, graduating from ENJJPT and becoming a fighter pilot. Then it was on to training other pilots, and then becoming a test pilot for the Air Force.

"As a space shuttle pilot, there's kind of a track to be a pilot and a commander," Colonel Boe said. "Typically the background is you have to be a military test pilot so I started my career."

The colonel said the biggest objective with STS-133 is to leave the International Space Station in such a condition to enable it to continue its planned mission until 2020. Part of that includes attaching a permanent multi-purpose module.

"(That) is basically a big container that's pressurized and the temperature is maintained," he explained. "We're going to attach that to the space station as one of the last habitable volumes on the space station."

As the pilot, the commander said his responsibilities include maintaining the shuttle, undocking from the space station and conducting a fly around. He will also work the robotic arm to conduct inspections of the spacecraft as well as transfer items over to the space station.

According to Colonel Boe's biography, he began his operational Air Force flying career at Clark Air Base, the Philippines, as an F-4E pilot after graduating from ENJJPT. He was back in the training environment in 1991 as a T-38 instructor pilot in the 50th Flying Training Squadron, and then an AT-38B instructor pilot with the 49th Fighter Squadron, both at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.

The colonel's next assignment took him to Eglin AFB, Fla., where he served as an F-15C flight commander. He flew 55 combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch.

Colonel Boe then graduated from the Air Force's Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, Calif., and was assigned as the director of testing at the Air-to-Air Missile Test Division at Eglin.

He has more than 4,000 flying hours in more than 45 different aircraft.

Colonel Boe was selected to serve with NASA as a pilot in 2000. After several years of training and serving in different capacities, the colonel piloted his first shuttle in November 2008. He logged more than 15 days in space.

(NASA contributed to this story.)