Shannon Walker

Shannon Walker

Shannon Walker is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010 onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space. She returned to space for her second long duration mission on November 15, 2020, onboard SpaceX Crew-1.

About Shannon Walker in brief

Summary Shannon WalkerShannon Walker is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010 onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space. She returned to space for her second long duration mission on November 15, 2020, onboard SpaceX Crew-1, the first operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Walker was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate as part of the 19th class of astronauts in May 2004. She served as backup to NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams for ISS Expedition 2122, directly serving as backup Commander for Expedition 22. On September 19, 2011, NASA announced that Walker would command the NEEMO 15 undersea exploration mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory from October 17–30, 2011.

She was removed from the flight and replaced with Christina Koch well before launch. In 2017 Walker served as Backup for NASA astronaut Joe Acaba for Expedition 5354, and she herself was scheduled to launch on Soyuz MS-12 in early 2019 and serve on Expedition 5960. On March 31, 2010, Walker and fellow NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock departed the ISS on a mission to become the first crew members to dock with the new Rassvet module. The three returned to Earth on November 26, 2010.