Terrence W WilcuttTerrence W. Wilcutt was born in Russellville, Kentucky, but lists Louisville, Kentucky, as his hometown. He graduated from Southern High School in 1967. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Math from Western Kentucky University in 1974 and was awared an Honorary PhD in Science from Western Kentucky University in 2000. He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel, fighter pilot, instructor pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He made two operational overseas deployments to the Western Pacific; Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. He is graduate of both the Naval Fighter Weapons School (Topgun) and the Naval Test Pilot School. As a test pilot, he flew developmental test flights for several classified and unclassified programs and projects. As an astronaut he is a veteran of four successful Space Shuttle missions and was NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance until his retirement from NASA in December 2020. He has over 6,600 hours of flight time in more than thirty different aircraft and over 1,000 hours of flight in the Space Shuttle. Wilcutt was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1990. During his astronaut career, he piloted (second in command) the Space Shuttle missions STS-68 in 1994 and STS-79 in 1996. After those flights, he served as Commander for Space Shuttle missions STS-89 in 1998 to the Mir space station, and STS-106 in 2000 to the International Space Station.Between space flights, Wilcutt served in a variety of technical and leadership positions within the astronaut office. This included the remote assignment as NASA Director of Operations in Star City, Russia. After the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, Wilcutt became the Safety Manager for the Space Shuttle Program, followed by promotion to the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston where he was tasked with the Safety Technical Authority of the programs and projects at JSC as well as JSC's Institutional Safety program. Beginning Sept 1, 2011, Wilcutt was again promoted in order to serve as NASA's Agency Chief of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) at NASA HQ in Washington DC. He was responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of all safety and mission assurance policies and procedures for all NASA programs and institutions until he retired from NASA on December 31, 2020. He retired as a Level 1 Senior Executive, the highest level civil servant short of political appointees. Wilcutt received numerous special honors during his USMC and NASA careers, including the Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Executive (the highest honors attainable for federal government leadership), NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal, Distinguished Service Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, and four space flight medals. He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Defense Superior Service and Meritorious Service medals, and the Navy Commendation Medal. Read More Read Less