Portrait of Richard Covey Courtesy of NASA

Richard Covey is an American astronaut who was born on August 1, 1946, in Arkansas. Before he became an astronaut, Covey was an Air Force pilot. He logged over 5000 hours of flight time in 30 types of aircraft.

Covey became an astronaut in 1978. He has spent over 385 hours in space on 3 spaceflights.

In 1985, Covey piloted Mission 51-I. During this mission, the crew deployed three satellites. Covey flew aboard STS-26 in 1988. The crew deployed the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite.

Covey made his third spaceflight aboard shuttle Atlantis. This was the last classified Department of Defense mission.