He enjoys sailing, especially racing Chesapeake Bay Log Canoes, reading, music, hiking, and travel.

He graduated from Bayside High School, Virginia Beach, in 1969, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from United States Naval Academy in 1973.

Redesignated an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO), he was sent to transition training for the F/A-18 airplane with Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125) at NAS Lemoore, California.

He then reported for duty at the Test Pilot School in March 1985, serving as the chief flight instructor until his selection for the astronaut program.

During the five-day mission, the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully deployed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), designed to provide scientists with their first complete data set on the upper atmosphere's chemistry, winds and energy inputs.

The crew also conducted numerous secondary experiments ranging from growing protein crystals, to studying how fluids and structures react in weightlessness.

After 81 orbits of the Earth, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

[2] More recently, Reightler served as pilot on STS-60, the first joint U.S./Russian Space Shuttle Mission.

During the eight-day flight, the crew of Discovery, including Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, conducted a wide variety of biological, materials science, earth observation, and life science experiments.

His technical assignments to date have included: Chief of the Astronaut Office Space Station Branch; Chief of the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch; Lead Spacecraft Communicator (CAPCOM); Lead Astronaut for flight software development and computer systems; Flight Crew Operations Directorate representative to the Program Requirements Control Board; weather coordinator for Space Shuttle launches and landings; Astronaut Office representative in the areas of ascent, entry, and aborts.

He joined Lockheed Martin as the Program Manager for the Engineering, Test, and Analysis contract at the Johnson Space Center.

In 2001, he was promoted to Senior Vice President (COO) of Lockheed Martin Space Operations, the corporation's organization responsible for providing technical services (engineering, science, and operations) to the Civil Space business sector and related government and foreign customers.

Reightler left Lockheed Martin in February 2011 to become the Vice President, Engineering Services for ATK Space Systems Division.

Reightler became the inaugural Tig H. Krekel, Class of '75, Distinguished Chair in Space Science at the U.S.