Nasa astronaut Megan McArthur has retired, closing out a remarkable career spanning over 20 years and leaving an indelible mark on space exploration history. With 213 days logged in space, McArthur notably became the first woman to pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and, in her career.
She was also the last person to touch the Hubble Space Telescope outside Earth using the space shuttle’s robotic arm.
Her first spaceflight was aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009 on the STS-125 mission, the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble telescope.
As a mission specialist, McArthur was responsible for capturing Hubble with the robotic arm and supporting five complex spacewalks aimed at repairing and upgrading the telescope after its first nineteen years in orbit. She played an essential role in shuttle operations during launch, rendezvous, and landing phases of the mission.
Born in Honolulu and raised globally as a “Navy kid,” McArthur’s educational background combines aerospace engineering and oceanography. Before her astronaut career that began in 2000, she conducted extensive oceanographic research with a focus on underwater acoustics, which included shipboard expeditions and scuba diving.
Since 2022, McArthur served as the chief science officer at Space Center Houston, Nasa Johnson Space Center’s official visitor center, where she actively engaged the public in space exploration themes to boost science literacy and appreciation of the benefits space research offers humanity.
Megan McArthur is married to fellow Nasa astronaut Robert Behnken, who piloted the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft during Nasa’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission in 2020, marking a historic moment in crewed commercial spaceflight.
As she retires, her legacy lives on in the new generations of explorers and the pivotal moments she helped make possible in the history of space exploration.
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