He has logged over 1 007 hours in space on four shuttle flights, including two dockings with the Russian space station Mir: as pilot of Atlantis in September 1996, and as commander of Endeavour in January 1998. He also commanded the September 2000 mission of Atlantis when it prepared the International Space Station for its first resident crew. His 2004 shuttle flight was postponed following the Columbia space shuttle disaster the previous year. Wilcutt was selected as an astronaut in 1990.