CHRIS CASSIDY

Christopher J. Cassidy was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 4, 1970, and considers York, Maine to be his hometown. A graduate of York High School, Chris completed Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, Rhode Island in 1989 and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1993. He later received a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has Honorary PhD's from Husson University and the University of Maine at Augusta.

Captain Cassidy was the Honor Graduate of BUDS Class 192 and served in the SEAL teams for 11 years prior to his selection as a NASA astronaut in 2004.  During his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star with combat ‘V’, and a second Bronze Star for combat leadership in Afghanistan. In 2004, the platoon Cassidy commanded was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for a nine-day high profile operation at the Zharwar Kili Cave on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border immediately after 9/11.

Cassidy is a veteran of three space flights and ten space walks and has flown to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor and the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He has accumulated 377 days in space to include his most recent six-month spaceflight in 2020 launching on the onset of COVID.  In 2015, he became NASA's 14th Chief Astronaut and served in this capacity for two years.

In August 2021, Chris was selected as the President and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, where he now leads the project to build an iconic museum and leadership institute in Arlington, Texas, and a monument on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Cassidy completed the Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, 2014 and cycled 1000 km across the Brazilian Amazon rainforest in 2017.