Chief of the Astronaut Office

The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active astronauts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the NASA Astronaut Corps and is the principal advisor to the NASA administrator on astronaut training and operations. The Chief's responsibilities include managing Astronaut Office resources and operations and helping to develop operating concepts and assignments for astronaut flight crew.

History

When Deke Slayton was grounded from the Mercury Seven due to a heart condition, he took on the position of Coordinator of Astronaut Activities and informally held the title of "chief astronaut". In this role, he held responsibility for the operation of the astronaut office.
The position of Chief of the Astronaut Office was officially created in July 1964, when Alan Shepard was named as the first Chief Astronaut. His responsibilities included monitoring the coordination, scheduling, and control of all activities involving NASA astronauts. This included monitoring the development and implementation of training programs to assure the flight readiness of pilot and non-pilot personnel for space flights; furnishing pilot evaluations applicable to the design, construction, and operations of spacecraft systems and related equipment; and providing scientific and engineering observations to facilitate mission planning, formulation of operational procedures, and selection and conduct of experiments for each flight.
The Chief of the Astronaut Office often returns to active duty once their term is complete.

List of Chief Astronauts

#	Portrait	Name	Group	Started	Resigned	Deputies	Notes
1		Deke Slayton	1 (1959)	September 18, 1962	July 8, 1964		Held position of Coordinator of Astronaut Activities and was referred to unofficially as "Chief Astronaut"
2		Alan Shepard	1 (1959)	July 8, 1964	August 7, 1969		First person to formally have title of Chief of the Astronaut Office
3		Tom Stafford	2 (1962)	August 7, 1969	June 25, 1971		Stafford held the position while Shepard prepared for and flew Apollo 14.
4		Alan Shepard	1 (1959)	June 25, 1971	January 14, 1974
5		John Young	2 (1962)	January 14, 1974	April 15, 1987	Paul J. Weitz	Acting Chief during STS-1 training was Alan Bean.
6		Dan Brandenstein	8 (1978)	April 27, 1987	October 1992	Steven Hawley	Hawley was Acting Chief while Brandenstein prepared for and flew STS-49, the first flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour.
7		Robert Gibson	8 (1978)	December 8, 1992	September 6, 1994	Linda Godwin	Gibson handed the position over to Cabana to begin training for STS-71, the first Shuttle docking to Mir.
8		Robert Cabana	11 (1985)	September 6, 1994	October 1997	Linda Godwin	Cabana handed the position over to Cockrell to begin training for STS-88, the first International Space Station assembly mission.
9		Kenneth Cockrell	13 (1990)	October 1997	October 1998		Cockrell later flew two Shuttle missions.
10		Charles Precourt	13 (1990)	October 1998	November 2002	Kent Rominger and Steve Smith
11		Kent Rominger	14 (1992)	November 2002	September 2006	Andy Thomas and Peggy Whitson
12		Steven W. Lindsey	15 (1994)	September 2006	October 2009	Janet Kavandi and Sunita Williams.	Lindsey resigned when he was assigned to command STS-133, which at the time was planned to be the final Space Shuttle mission.
13		Peggy Whitson	16 (1996)	October 2009	July 2012	Rick Sturckow ; Michael Barratt, MD, and then subsequently Robert Behnken and Eric Boe	Whitson was the first woman and first non-pilot to serve as Chief Astronaut. She resigned when she went back on active flight status.
14		Robert Behnken	18 (2000)	July 2012	July 2015	Eric Boe	Behnken and Boe both returned to flight status, working on the Commercial Crew Program Behnken later flew on SpaceX Crew Demo 2.
15		Christopher Cassidy	19 (2004)	July 2015	June 2, 2017	Patrick Forrester	Cassidy returned to flight status, and was assigned to Expedition 62/63.
16		Patrick Forrester	16 (1996)	June 2, 2017	December 20, 2020	Gregory R. Wiseman, Megan McArthur, Scott Tingle	Forrester took a leave of absence to pursue a personal opportunity outside of NASA.
17		Gregory R. Wiseman	20 (2009)	December 20, 2020	February 2, 2023	Andrew Feustel	Stepped down in November 2022 to return to flight rotation. Feustel acted as acting chief between November 2022 and February 2023.
18		Joseph M. Acaba	19 (2004)	February 2, 2023	November 4, 2025	Andrew Feustel, Shannon Walker, Nicole Mann
19		Scott Tingle	20 (2009)	November 4, 2025	present