Paul William Richards is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He flew aboard one Space Shuttle mission in 2001.

STS-102 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Discovery and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-102 flew in March 2001; its primary objectives were resupplying the ISS and rotating the Expedition 1 and Expedition 2 crews. At eight hours 56 minutes, the first EVA performed on the mission remains the longest spacewalk ever undertaken.