Astronaut Shane Kimbrough, who received a master’s degree in operations research in 1998 from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is currently serving as commander of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station.

Kimbrough is leading Crew-2, an international team including fellow NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This is the second of six crewed missions scheduled.

Crew-2 launched on Friday, April 23, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will spend six months in space during this mission. According to NASA, “the Crew-2 members will conduct science and maintenance during a six-month stay aboard the orbiting laboratory and will return no earlier than Oct. 31. The Crew Dragon spacecraft can stay in orbit for at least 210 days, which is a NASA requirement.”

Kimbrough grew up in the Atlanta metro area and was selected to be an astronaut in 2004. This is his third trip to space.