In 2009, Hopkins was one of nine astronauts selected by NASA as part of NASA Astronaut Group 20. He began training alongside his Group mates and five international mission specialists later that year at the Johnson Space Center. He completed his training in November 2011 after two years of scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training.[10]
Following the completion of his astronaut training, Hopkins became available to work other jobs in the NASA Astronaut Office, as well as being eligible for a future flight assignment.[citation needed]
Expedition 37/38
In February 2011, Hopkins was assigned to the crew of ISS Expedition 37/38, becoming the first member of his astronaut class to be given a flight assignment. He began training alongside Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazansky for a long-duration flight to the Space Station.[11]
Following the departure of Soyuz TMA-09M, carrying Yurchikin, Nyberg, and Parmitano, Hopkins and his two crewmates joined the Expedition 38 crew, with Kotov taking over as Station commander. Just prior to the departure of Soyuz TMA-09M, they had been joined by the remaining three Expedition 38 crew members: Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin; NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio; and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who had arrived aboard Soyuz TMA-11M. This unusual "direct handover" was in order to allow the crew of Soyuz TMA-11M to bring up an Olympic torch, to be returned by the crew of Soyuz TMA-09M days later as part of the Olympic Torch Relay for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.[14]
During Expedition 38, Hopkins participated in two spacewalks, alongside Mastracchio, lasting 5 hours and 28 minutes and 7 hours and 30 minutes, respectively. During the spacewalks, Mastracchio and Hopkins performed maintenance and upgrades on the exterior of the station. Also during ISS-38, Hopkins was aboard the station for the berthing and release of Cygnus CRS Orb-1, the first operational flight of the Cygnus spacecraft.[15]
Hopkins (left) with Rick Mastracchio during a Thanksgiving meal on the ISS
Hopkins and his two crewmates departed the station aboard Soyuz TMA-10M on March 10, 2014, leaving Tyrin, Masstrachio, and Wakata aboard the station as the initial crew of Expedition 39. The trio landed in Kazakhstan less than five hours later, ending a 166-day spaceflight.[16]
On November 15, 2020, Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi launched on Crew Dragon Resilience, arriving at the Station two days later, on November 17.[5]
On December 18, 2020, Hopkins became the first astronaut to transfer from the Air Force to the Space Force in a ceremony on the International Space Station.[5][1]
On January 27, 2021, Hopkins' third spacewalk was a team effort with Victor Glover, lasting for nearly seven hours as they worked to upgrade the Columbus module. It was Glover's first spacewalk ever.[19]
On February 1, 2021, on the second spacewalk of the mission, and his fourth spacewalk overall, also with Glover, Hopkins replaced a broken external camera, upgraded two other cameras, and concluded a four-year campaign initiated by Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson on Expedition 50 to replace the station's batteries.[20]
Crew-1 splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on May 2, 2021 after 167 days in space.[21]
Retirement
In June 2023, NASA announced that Hopkins had retired.[22] In Sept 2024, Hopkins appeared as a commentator during SpaceX's live coverage of the Polaris Dawn spacewalk.
Personal life
Hopkins is married to Julie Hopkins (née Stutz)[10] and has two sons.[23] In 2013, Hopkins, formerly a communicant in the Methodist Church, was received into the Catholic Church, joining his wife and his children who are Catholics. On his first mission to the ISS, his pastor arranged for him to bring the Eucharist, so that he could have Communion once a week.[6]
.jpg)
