USA

Megan McArthur

(Katherine Megan McArthur)

(Aug 30, 1971)

Astronaut 494

Astronaut of the USA 317

Woman-astronaut 51

Spaceflights 2

Spaceflights

On August 29, 2025, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur concluded a career that spanned more than two decades. Over the course of her service, McArthur completed two spaceflights and spent a total of 213 days in space. She was the first woman to pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and the last person to "touch" the Hubble Space Telescope using a space shuttle’s robotic arm.

On April 23, 2021, McArthur launched into space as the pilot for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission. This was her second spaceflight and her first long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. During the 200-day mission, she served as a flight engineer for Expedition 65 and Expedition 66, conducting a wide range of scientific experiments in fields such as human health, materials science, and robotics. This research is intended to support the Artemis lunar exploration program and help prepare for sending American astronauts to Mars.

Her first spaceflight took place in 2009 as part of the STS-125 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis—the fifth and final servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.

As a mission specialist, she was responsible for capturing the telescope using a robotic arm and supported five spacewalks to upgrade and repair the Hubble Space Telescope after 19 years of its operation in orbit. Furthermore, she played a key role in supporting shuttle operations during the launch, rendezvous with the telescope, and landing phases.

In addition to her flight experience, McArthur has held various technical and leadership positions at NASA. In 2019, she became a deputy division chief within the Astronaut Office, where she oversaw astronaut training and professional development, as well as ongoing spaceflight missions. Additionally, starting in 2017, she served as the assistant director for flight operations for the International Space Station Program.

Since 2022, McArthur has served as the chief scientist at Space Center Houston—the official visitor center for NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. In this role, she actively promotes public engagement with space exploration, aiming to increase scientific literacy and foster an understanding of the benefits that space exploration brings to humanity.

Born in Honolulu, McArthur grew up in various parts of the world as the daughter of a U.S. Navy officer. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles, and later a Ph.D. in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Before being selected for the astronaut corps in 2000, she conducted oceanographic research in the field of underwater acoustics—work that involved both time spent aboard research vessels and numerous scuba dives.

McArthur is married to former NASA astronaut Robert Behnken, who also flew aboard the *Dragon Endeavour* spacecraft as part of the SpaceX Demo-2 mission in 2020.