[1] Richards was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy upon graduating from the University of Missouri in 1969 and was designated a Naval Aviator in August of the following year.

From 1970 to 1973, he flew support missions in the A-4 Skyhawk and F-4 Phantom airplanes while assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 33 (VAQ-33) at Norfolk Naval Air Station, Virginia.

As carrier suitability project officer for the F/A-18A Hornet airplane, he made the first shipboard catapults and arrested landings during Initial Sea Trials of the F/A-18A on board USS America in 1979.

[2] Richards flew on four missions: STS-28 (August 8–13, 1989), STS-41 (October 6–10, 1990), STS-50 (June 25 – July 9, 1992), and STS-64 (September 9–20, 1994)--and logged a total of 33 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes, 15 seconds in space.

After 80 orbits of the Earth, this five-day mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on August 13, 1989.

During 66 orbits of the Earth, the STS-41 crew successfully deployed the Ulysses spacecraft, starting this interplanetary probe on its four-year journey, via Jupiter, to investigate the polar regions of the Sun.

Over a two-week period, the STS-50 flight crew conducted a wide variety of experiments relating to materials processing and fluid physics in a microgravity environment.

Mission highlights included: the first use of a space based laser for environmental research; deployment and retrieval of a spacecraft in support of solar wind and corona studies; robotic processing of semiconductors; maneuvered the robotic arm in proximity to over 100 Shuttle reaction control system jet firings to measure forces imparted to a plume detection instrument in support of future Space Station/Shuttle rendezvous flights; first untethered spacewalk in 10 years to test a self-rescue jetpack.