Ken "Hock" Ham

Ken “Hock” Ham is a former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer (graduate of the US Naval Academy) and NASA astronaut.

As a military pilot, Hock was the lead carrier suitability test pilot for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, conducted combat missions as an air wing strike leader over Bosnia, North Iraq, and Afghanistan and was an F/A-18 demonstration pilot. He has over 6,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft types, with over 300 shipboard and 300 land-based arrested landings.

While at NASA he served a crewmember on the KC-135, was an ascent/entry CAPCOM (including for Return To Flight, STS-114, after the Columbia disaster), was an International Space Station (ISS) CAPCOM and lead astronaut for the space shuttle closeout crew/astronaut support personnel. Ken’s first assignment to fly in space came as the Pilot of Discovery, STS-124 in June 2008, which delivered and assembled the Japanese Pressurized Module on ISS. Hock then served as Commander of Atlantis, STS-132 which delivered the Russian MRM-1 module to ISS. During his last two years at NASA, Ken served as a T-38N flight instructor & high altitude research pilot on the WB-57F.

As a civilian test pilot, Hock was the first person to fly the Millennium Jet, Solotrek. He is an FAA Commercial, CFI, CFII, & MEI pilot. Ken currently owns a Bellanca Super Viking.

Post NASA, Hock served as the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department and the Senior Aviator at the US Naval Academy. He was the Director of Flight Crews & Client Astronauts and Director of Spacecraft Systems Operational Safety at Bigelow Aerospace. He is currently an aerobatics & air combat flight instructor with Sky Combat Ace in Henderson Nevada and a Senior Tactical Systems Analyst with Tactical Air Support.