Bob Behnken has always approached spaceflight as both a test pilot and an engineer, methodical, precise, and deeply aware of the risks involved. Over two decades at NASA, he played a critical role in human spaceflight, logging more than 60 days in space and performing 10 spacewalks. He was instrumental in the early years of the Commercial Crew Program, helping usher in a new era of private space travel.

Born in St. Ann, Missouri, Behnken followed a rigorous academic path, earning a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Caltech before becoming an Air Force flight test engineer. Selected as a NASA astronaut in 2000, he flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, in 2008 and 2010, conducting complex assembly work on the International Space Station. His most high-profile mission came in 2020, when he and fellow astronaut Doug Hurley became the first crew to fly aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as part of the Demo-2 test flight. Their success marked the return of human spaceflight from U.S. soil after nearly a decade.

On February 22, 2022, I photographed Behnken and his wife, astronaut Megan McArthur, at Johnson Space Center. We worked in Building 9, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, where astronauts train in full-scale spacecraft replicas, and in Building 16, home to the Systems Engineering Simulator. Even in a training environment, Behnken’s deep familiarity with these tools was evident, his time at NASA had made these spaces as familiar to him as any home or cockpit.

Behnken retired from NASA in November 2022 but remains closely connected to aerospace, contributing his expertise to the next generation of engineers and astronauts. His career reflects a commitment to solving the hard problems of spaceflight, designing, testing, and flying the systems that will take humanity further.