Two space shuttle-era spacewalkers enter Astronaut Hall of Fame

Tom Akers and Joe Tanner are finally in the same class. The two veteran space shuttle crew members were inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame together on May 16. They could also have been in the same NASA astronaut selection group, too, had history played out a little differently. In 1984, Tanner reported to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to fly as an instructor pilot and then applied for the next class of astronaut candidates. “Tom came in with the class of 1987, which, interestingly enough, I interviewed for. He made it, and I didn’t,” said Tanner. “And I’ve been leading the way ever since,” said Akers, interrupting Tanner while both laughed in a joint interview with collectSPACE.com.

“I have never understood why it took NASA so long to pick him.” (Tanner became an astronaut in 1992.) Credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex US Astronaut Hall of Fame class of 2026 members Tom Akers and Joe Tanner (at center) are surrounded by 18 past honorees at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida on Saturday, May 16, 2026. US Astronaut Hall of Fame class of 2026 members Tom Akers and Joe Tanner (at center) are surrounded by 18 past honorees at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Credit: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Akers’ and Tanner’s spaceflight careers overlapped by five years and included four missions each.

Although they never launched into Earth orbit together, they flew numerous T-38 jet training flights and knew each other well. “Our families were friends,” said Akers. “We went to the same church, so we were more social friends than work friends at JSC.” Twenty years after the last of their flights returned from space, Akers and Tanner were finally side by side under the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s display of the retired space shuttle Atlantis—a vehicle on which both rode—to be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame as the class of 2026. “It was something I was aware of as a possibility, but had never really given thought I would get inducted, said Akers.

“So it was a pleasant surprise for sure.” “We both knew we were on the ballot,” said Tanner. “I had been on the [nominee] ballot with Tom for 10 years.” A pair of spacewalkers The induction ceremony coincided with the 34th anniversary of Akers’ landing from what may have been his most famous mission. On May 16, 1992, he touched down on the space shuttle Endeavour after becoming one-third of the only three-person spacewalk in history. Akers, together with his STS-49 crewmates Rick Hieb and Pierre Thuot, reached up with their gloved hands to grab hold of and secure a communications satellite in the orbiter’s payload bay.