Raja Chari

Early life and education

Raja Chari was born in Milwaukee to Peggy Egbert and Sreenivas V. Chari, who is Telugu from India. He grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and graduated from Columbus High School in 1995. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering and engineering science with a math minor from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1999. As a Draper Fellow at MIT, he completed a master’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 2001.

Air Force career

After earning his graduate degree in 2001, Chari attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He then attended F-15E Strike Eagle training at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina and, following completion of the training syllabus, subsequently served as an F-15E Evaluator Pilot and Chief of Standardization and Evaluation with the 90th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska and 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, England, deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2007, Chari attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland as an Air Force exchange officer, and, following graduation a year later, was assigned to the 40th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin AFB, Florida, where he served as the project pilot for the APG-63 and APG-82 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar programs. Chari also attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and was a program manager for a major defense acquisition program in the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office.

At the time of his selection as an Astronaut in June 2017, Chari was serving as commanding officer of the 461st Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California. In January 2023, Chari was nominated for promotion to brigadier general.

NASA career

In June 2017, Chari was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 22, and reported for duty in August to begin two years of training as an astronaut. In December 2020, Chari was selected as part of the Artemis team, a group of astronauts 'to help pave the way for the next lunar missions including sending the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024.' The same month, he became the first astronaut from Group 22 to be selected for a space mission, SpaceX Crew-3, which he commanded.

Chari is the first NASA rookie to command a spaceflight since Joe Engle, who commanded the STS-2 mission in 1981. On March 23, 2022, Chari and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer exited the Quest Joint Airlock on the ISS to perform an EVA. However, Maurer's helmet camera became loose, delaying the start of the activities by an hour. Chari ultimately secured it using wire, and the spacewalk was completed successfully.