DOD News | January 9, 2024

Commander Stephen Bowen, a 1986 graduate of the Naval Academy, was chosen in 2000 to be the first submarine officer ever selected as a NASA astronaut. Between 2008 and 2011, he was part of three delivery missions to the International Space Station. It was on those missions that he learned the technology and environment of a space station were quite like that of a submarine.

“When they called me, I was a pre-commissioning unit executive officer for Virginia [class submarines], and it was so exciting to be a part of a crew establishing the initial operating capabilities of a submarine,” he explained. “For a moment, I almost thought, ‘I’ll say no,’ because we were looking forward to moving back up to Connecticut. But I’m very, very happy I said yes.” 

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