Richards, Paul William (1964- )

US astronaut. He flew with the Discovery space shuttle mission in March 2001 that took the second resident crew to the International Space Station. During the flight, he performed an extravehicular activity of more than six hours. He left NASA in 2002 to pursue private interests. Richards joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as an engineer in 1987. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996.