NASA research pilot Edward T. Schneider in the cockpit of an F-104. Schneider served as a U.S. Navy pilot from 1968 to 1983, during which time he trained at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and received assignments as an engineering test pilot, as a test pilot school instructor, and as a Naval Liaison Officer at what was then called the Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (now the Dryden Flight Research Center). Schneider joined NASA as a research pilot in 1983. Over the next 17 years, he was a project pilot on the F-18 High Angle-of-Attack program, the F-15 aeronautical research aircraft, the B-52 launch aircraft, and the NASA SR-71s. He retired as a NASA research pilot in September 2000.