Empire Test Pilots' School
Name Course Year Comments
Baudry , Patrick No . 37 FW 1978 Flew aboard NASA 's Space Shuttle 1985 mission STS-51-G
de Winne , Frank No . 51 FW 1992 The first European Space Agency astronaut to command a space mission when he served as commander of the 2009 International Space Station Expedition 21 , his second ISS mission
Cheli , Maurizio No . 47 FW 1988 European Space Agency astronaut aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-75 ( with Claude Nicollier , another ETPS graduate ) in 1995
Duke , Neville No . 4/5 1946/7 World War II Fighter ace , later test pilot at Hawker Aircraft . On 7 September 1953 , Duke set a new world air speed record of 727.63 mph ( 1,171.01 km/h ) , flying Hunter WB188
Giddings , Michael No . 4/5 1946/7 Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Charles Michael Giddings KCB , OBE , DFC , AFC & Bar
Goodhart , Nicholas No . 4 1946 Rear Admiral H.C.Nicholas 'Nick ' Goodhart , CB , Legion of Merit , FRAeS , RN rtd , invented the mirror-sight deck landing system for aircraft carriers ; record-breaking glider pilot ; holder of the Royal Aero Club 's Silver medal and the FAI 's Paul Tissandier Diploma for those who have served the cause of Aviation in general and Sporting Aviation in particular , by their work , initiative , devotion or in other ways
Haigneré , Jean-Pierre No . 40 FW 1981 French Air Force pilot , later CNES and ESA cosmonaut on the 1993 Franco-Russian Altaïr and 1999 Soyuz TM-29 missions to the Mir space station
Hammond , L. Blaine Jr No . 40 FW 1981 USAF pilot and NASA astonaut ; flew on Space Shuttle missions STS-39 and STS-64
Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr No . 12 1954 USAF test pilot
McCulley , Michael J - - Captain , US Navy and NASA astronaut who was pilot of the 1989 Space Shuttle mission STS-34
Muehlberg , John R No . 2 1944/45 Lt.-Col. USAF , first Commandant of the US Air Force Test Pilot School
Nicholson , Peter No . 32 FW 1973 Air Vice-Marshal Peter Nicholson , appointed Air Commander Australia on 9 April 1996 ; admitted as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 1999 Australia Day Honours
Nicollier , Claude No . 47 FW 1988 First astronaut from Switzerland ; has flown on four Space Shuttle missions : STS-46 , STS-61 , STS-75 ( with Maurizio Cheli , another ETPS graduate ) and STS-103 ; full professor of Spatial Technology at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne from 2007
Peake , Timothy No . 43 RW 2005 Former British Army Air Corps helicopter pilot , he is the first British citizen to be selected as an astronaut by ESA
Pogue , Bill No . 22 FW 1963 Pilot of Skylab 4 ( 1973-74 )
Tognini , Michel No . 41 FW 1982 French and ESA astronaut who served on the 1992 Soyuz TM-15 and 1999 Space Shuttle Columbia STS-93 missions
Twiss , Peter No . 3 1945 On 10 March 1956 in the Fairey Delta 2 , a supersonic delta-winged research plane , Twiss raised the world air speed record from 822.1 mph ( 1,323 km/h ) to 1,132 mph ( 1811 km/h ) . The FD2 was the first aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph in level flight
Worden , Al No . 23 FW 1964 Command module pilot for the 1971 Apollo 15 moon mission
Żurakowski , Janusz No . 2 1944/45 Highly decorated Polish and RAF World War II Spitfire pilot , later test pilot with Glosters ( Meteor , Javelin ) and Avro Canada ( Arrow )
ETPS graduates
ETPS graduates who have made significant contributions to aviation and/or space exploration . To collapse the expanded table , click on `` hide '' ; to expand the collapsed table , click on `` show '' in the Name column header .
The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. The school moved to RAF Cranfield in October 1945, then to Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough in July 1947, before returning to Boscombe Down on 29 January 1968. Its motto is Learn to test; test to learn. ETPS is run by the MoD and defence contractor QinetiQ under a long-term agreement.