Mike McCulley 

In 1989, Michael McCulley was the pilot on mission STS-34, flying space shuttle Atlantis and logging a total of 119 hours, 41 minutes in space. During that mission, he worked with crew members to successfully deploy the Galileo spacecraft on its journey to explore Jupiter. 

Mike McCulley NASA Bio

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Selected for astronaut training in 1984, McCulley completed the training program the following year. He had previously served as an aviator in the U.S. Navy, flying more than 50 aircraft types and logging more than 5,000 flying hours. 

McCulley enlisted in the Navy in 1961 after graduating from high school in Tennessee, serving on one diesel-powered and two nuclear-powered submarines. McCulley enrolled at Purdue in 1965 via the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program. He was granted special permission to remain at Purdue to conduct graduate research, and the master’s degree he earned accelerated his trajectory into test pilot school and later into the astronaut program. 

He received his officer’s commission in the Navy in 1970 and entered flight training, later attending the Empire Test Pilots’ School in the United Kingdom. He later returned to sea duty on the USS Saratoga and USS Nimitz. 

Among his post-NASA career activities were multiple leadership posts with the United Space Alliance. He was president and CEO of the organization from 2003 until his retirement in 2007.