Bob Behnken's Randolph Engineering Aviator in NASA Astronaut Class Portrait

Long before he strapped into a Crew Dragon capsule and made history aboard the International Space Station, Bob Behnken was part of NASA's Astronaut Group 18 — the class of 2000. Selected from thousands of applicants, Behnken and his fellow candidates were the first astronaut class of the new millennium, chosen during an era when the Space Shuttle was still the workhorse of American spaceflight and the ISS was just beginning to take shape in orbit.

In the official class photograph, Behnken stands among his peers in a blue flight suit, a pair of Randolph Engineering Aviators with a matte chrome frame resting on his face. The bayonet temples — a signature of Randolph's military-spec design — are clearly visible, a detail that would follow him through two decades of service, multiple Space Shuttle missions, and ultimately his role as joint operations commander on the historic Demo-2 flight.

Randolph Engineering has been the go-to supplier of aviators for U.S. military pilots since 1978, and the brand's connection to aerospace runs deep. For Behnken — an Air Force colonel and test pilot before joining NASA — the RE Aviators were a natural fit even at the very start of his astronaut career. The photograph captures a moment of anticipation: a group of men and women on the threshold of extraordinary careers, with the right equipment already in place.