Joseph R. Tanner

Who is Joseph R. Tanner?

Joseph Richard "Joe" Tanner is an American instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder, a former naval aviator, and a former NASA astronaut. He was born in Danville, Illinois. He is unusual among astronauts as he did not have a background in flight test nor did he earn any advanced academic degrees. Typically those who did not do military flight test have an MD or PhD, if not a masters. Whereas Tanner's path to becoming an astronaut followed operational military flying and then into NASA for operational jet training before being selected into the astronaut corps. He is also unusual in his current position on the CU faculty as all other members have at least a masters degree, with almost all having a doctoral-level degree.