NASA to induct astronauts Tom Akers and Joe Tanner into Hall of Fame

The latest class into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame did more than honor two shuttle veterans. It connected the work of Tom Akers and Joe Tanner to the operating culture NASA still relies on for Artemis and commercial-space ambitions.

Akers and Tanner were inducted Saturday, May 16, at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, with Space Shuttle Atlantis as the backdrop. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation said the pair joined the 27th class of honorees, bringing the Hall’s total to 113 astronauts. Created in 1990 by the Mercury 7 astronauts, the Hall has become a record of the people who shaped American human spaceflight through the shuttle era and into International Space Station assembly.

Akers, born May 20, 1951, in St. Louis and raised in Eminence, Missouri, flew STS-41, STS-49, STS-61 and STS-79. NASA said his work included shuttle software development, EVA activities, mission operations and flight crew operations before he left the agency in August 1997. Tanner, born in Illinois in 1950, joined NASA as an aerospace engineer and research pilot in 1984, was selected as an astronaut in March 1992, and flew STS-66, STS-82, STS-97 and STS-115. NASA said Tanner logged more than 1,069 hours in space and more than 46 EVA hours across seven spacewalks.

Their careers mapped directly onto the skills NASA still prizes. Akers’ background in shuttle software and mission operations reflected the kind of system-level precision that remains central to complex flight programs. Tanner’s seven spacewalks connected him to the EVA experience that has long shaped how NASA trains astronauts for station assembly, repair work and long-duration missions. The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation said both men contributed to astronaut training and future exploration initiatives, and that Tanner later supported advanced exploration work including the Altair Lunar Lander.

Curt Brown, chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, said the two astronauts stood for excellence, leadership and service to human spaceflight, and noted that their influence continued beyond NASA as educators and mentors. The Hall of Fame celebration was paired with Space Rendezvous programming from May 14 to May 16, including astronaut talks, panel discussions, receptions and signings, turning the induction into a reminder that the shuttle generation still informs the people, procedures and ambitions driving NASA’s next era.