Rick Hauck is a former U.S. Navy Captain, pilot and NASA astronaut. NASA selected Hauck as an astronaut candidate in January 1978. He was pilot for STS-7, the seventh flight of the Space Shuttle, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 18, 1983. Captain Hauck was also the spacecraft commander for the second mission of Discovery on mission STS 51-A, which launched on November 8, 1984.

In August 1986, Captain Hauck was appointed NASA Associate Administrator for External Relations, the policy advisor to the NASA Administrator for congressional, public, international, intergovernmental, and educational affairs. He resumed his astronaut duties at the Johnson Space Center in early February 1987.

Later, Rick became the Director of the Navy Space Systems Division and then President and Chief Operating Officer of AXA Space.