He was accepted into NASA's astronaut training program in 1985 and was the only astronaut assigned to the Shuttle Program Office during the return to flight phase following the Challenger accident. In addition to his time in space, he held many key technical and management positions at both the Johnson Space Center and Kennedy Space Center.

Henricks was an officer in the United States Air Force (USAF) becoming the youngest colonel in 1991. During his career, he flew fighter planes throughout the U. S. and Europe. He was a Top Gun and served tours in England and Iceland. He was also a test pilot of the F-4 Phantom and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Overall, he has flown over 30 different types of aircraft and logged over 6,000 hours flying time. He retired from government service in 1997 to pursue his business career.

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