Selected by NASA in June 1998, Alan Poindexter reported for training in August 1998. Initially, Poindexter served in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch performing duties as the lead support astronaut at Kennedy Space Center. In December 2002, he was named as Pilot on STS-120 mission to deliver the Harmony connecting node to the International Space Station; an assignment which abruptly ended with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster just two months later. In July 2006, Poindexter was assigned as Pilot on the STS-122 mission that delivered the European Space Agency’s Columbus Laboratory to the International Space Station in February 2008. Alan Poindexter served as a lead CAPCOM for the STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2009, as well as the launch CAPCOM for the STS-127 mission in July 2009. He was the Commander of STS-131, which launched in April 2010. The mission’s primary payload was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. On his retirement from NASA service in December 2010, Peggy Whitson, Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston said that: “Dex was a well-respected leader within our office, We will miss him being part of our team and wish him the best in his new role as he continues his service to the Navy and the country.”

STS-122 aboard Atlantis (February 7–20, 2008) was the 24th Space Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. Mission highlight was the delivery and installation of the European Space Agency’s Columbus Laboratory. It took three spacewalks by crewmembers to prepare the Columbus Laboratory for its scientific work, and to replace an expended nitrogen tank on the Station’s P-1 Truss. STS-122 was also a crew replacement mission, delivering Expedition 16 Flight Engineer, ESA Astronaut Léopold Eyharts, and returning home with Expedition 16 Flight Engineer, NASA Astronaut Daniel M. Tani. The STS-122 mission was accomplished in 12 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes and 40 seconds, and traveled 5,296,832 statute miles in 203 Earth orbits. STS-131 aboard Discovery (April 5–20, 2010), a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), launched just before dawn from the Kennedy Space Center. Upon arrival at the station, Discovery’s crew performed three spacewalks to replace an empty ammonia tank for the ISS Thermal Control System. They also transferred more than 13,000 pounds of hardware, supplies and equipment. Included in the transfer, were a new crew sleeping quarters, and three scientific experiment racks. On the return journey the MPLM (Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) inside Discovery ‘s payload bay was packed with more than 6,000 pounds of hardware, and scientific and technical research return samples. The STS-131 mission lasted 15 days, 02 hours, 47 minutes, 10 seconds, and traveled 6,232,235 statute miles in 238 Earth orbits. On July 1, 2012, Alan Poindexter died due to injuries he received from a personal watercraft accident in Little Sabine Bay off Pensacola Beach, Florida. He was 50.