Brian Duffy (Retired Colonel, U.s. Air Force) is a pilot and a former NASA Astronaut. He flew on four space shuttle missions: STS-45, STS-57, STS-72 and STS-92.

After graduation from the US Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, Duffy attended US Air Force Pilot Training, earned his wings and logged more than 5,000 hours of flight time in at least 25 different aircrafts as a fighter and test pilot. Duffy also earned a Master’s of Science Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California.

Duffy’s first spaceflight came as the pilot for STS-45 aboard Atlantis. This flight carried the first Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications & Science (ATLAS-1) experiments to study the sun, Earth’s atmosphere and their interaction.

In 1993, Duffy served as the pilot aboard Endeavour for STS-57. This flight was the first to carry the SPACEHAB laboratory module. In addition to the science and other experiments, including testing of maintenance equipment designed for use on a space station, STS-57 also retrieved a European Satellite.

Duffy’s first spaceflight command came with STS-72 aboard Endeavour. In addition to evaluating spacewalk techniques that would later be used for the assembly of the International Space Station, STS-72 retrieved the Space Flyer Unit, a Japanese microgravity research spacecraft and flew the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology Flyer (OAST-Flyer). The PBS documentary "Astronauts," which was narrated by Bill Nye, resulted from this flight.

Duffy’s final spaceflight was STS-92 aboard Discovery. This flight marked the 100th Space Shuttle mission and it was a flight to the International Space Station. STS-92 brought the Z1 truss to the ISS as well as Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3). During seven days of docked operations, four spacewalks were conducted to install the new hardware.

During his time at NASA, Duffy also served as Assistant Director (Technical) and Deputy Director (Acting) of the Johnson Space Center. Post-NASA, Duffy served as the Vice President of Mission Operations and Support Services for the Lockheed Martin Corporation. Duffy currently serves as Vice President and JSC Program Manager for Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

Astronaut, Space, Organization, Teamwork & Teambuilding, Leadership Science, Inspirational,