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FRANCIS R. SCOBEE Commander Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| Dick Scobee was selected as an
astronaut candidate in January 1978, along with fellow Challenger crew
members El Onizuka, Ron McNair and Judy Resnik. After completing a
one-year training and evaluation period he qualified for future shuttle
missions as a pilot. His first mission was the April 1984 flight of the Challenger STS 41-C, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Scobee was pilot and second in command. The mission saw the successful retrieval, on-board repair and redeployment of the damaged Solar Maximum Satellite, as well as flight testing of the Manned Maneuvering Units. He also served an instructor pilot on the NASA/Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft. Scobee enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1957 after graduating high school. Stationed in Texas, he attended night school, earned two years of college credit and was awarded a scholarship through the Airmen's Education and Commissioning Program. He was graduated from the University of Arizona in 1965 with a degree in aerospace engineering, the same year he received his Air Force commission. After earning his wings in 1966, he received orders to duty in Vietnam the following year where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Scobee returned to the U.S. and attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and was later assigned to numerous programs as a test pilot. In 1984, NASA honored him with the Space Flight medal and two Distinguished Service awards. Dick Scobee was born May 19, 1939, in Cle Elum, Washington, and was raised in Auburn, Washington. During his career he logged more than 7,000 hours flying time in 45 types of aircraft, including 168 hours in space. He is survived by his wife, the former June Kent, and their children, Kathie Scobee Fulgham and Richard Scobee. June Scobee Rodgers served as Challenger Center's first Chairperson. Through the work of Challenger Center, she has shared with students, teachers, and the general public her enthusiasm and a love of learning that she shared with her husband Dick Scobee. She is the author of Silver Linings, an inspirational account of her life and work following the Challenger 51-L tragedy. |
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MICHAEL J. SMITH Pilot Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| Mike Smith was selected as an
astronaut candidate in May 1980, and was assigned to NASA while
continuing his career as an officer in the U.S. Navy. After completing a one-year training and evaluation period he qualified for future space shuttle missions as a pilot. Prior to being selected for the 51-L mission, Smith served with NASA as a commander in the Shuttle Avionics Division and technical assistant to the director, Flight Operations Directorate. Smith was assigned to the Advanced Jet Training Command in 1969, serving as an instructor until March 1971. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam as a pilot in an attack squadron aboard USS KITTY HAWK. After completing Navy Test Pilot school in 1974, he returned as an instructor in 1976. His next assignment was with Attack Squadron 75, where he served as maintenance and operations officer for two SIXTH Fleet deployments to the Mediterranean aboard USS SARATOGA. Smith graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1967, ranked 108 in a class of 893. He attended the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he earned his master of science in aeronautical engineering. Upon completing his aviation jet training in Texas, he received his wings as a Naval Aviator in May 1969. Mike Smith was born April 30, 1945, in Beaufort, North Carolina. During his career he flew 20 types of civilian and military aircraft, logging 4,867.7 hours of flying time. He was promoted posthumously by Congress to the rank of Navy Captain, and has had a Chair named in his honor at the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School. He is survived by his wife, the former Jane Jarrell, and their three children, Scott, Alison and Erin. |
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JUDITH A. RESNIK Mission Specialist Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| Judy Resnik was selected as an
astronaut candidate in January 1978, along with fellow Challenger crew
members El Onizuka, Dick Scobee and Ron McNair. After completing a
one-year training and evaluation period she qualified for future shuttle
flights as a mission specialist. Her first mission was the maiden voyage of Discovery, which was launched on August 20, 1984, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the mission the crew deployed three communications satellites, conducted tests on a 105-foot solar array and experimented with the new IMAX motion picture camera. The mission completed 96 Earth orbits. Resnik, the second American woman in space, graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1970 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. In 1977, she received her doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. Before joining NASA, Resnik worked for RCA as a design engineer, conducting engineering support for NASA sounding rocket and telemetry systems programs. She was also a biomedical engineer and staff fellow in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as well as a senior systems engineer with Xerox Corporation. Judy Resnik was born April 5, 1949, in Akron, Ohio. She logged 144 hours, 57 minutes in space, and was awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal in 1984. |
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ELLISON S. ONIZUKA Mission Specialist Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| El Onizuka was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978, along with fellow Challenger crew members Ron McNair, Dick Scobee and Judy Resnik. After completing a one-year training and evaluation period he was qualified for future shuttle flights as a mission specialist. His first mission, 51-C, was the January 1985 flight of Discovery, the first shuttle mission flown exclusively for the Department of Defense. A 38-year old Air Force lieutenant colonel, his duties included tracking instruments during launch and re-entry, and deploying a Department of Defense satellite using the shuttle's 50-foot remote arm. Onizuka was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1970 after he received his bachelor and master of science degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado as a member of the ROTC program. He was then assigned as an aerospace flight test engineer with the Sacramento Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base in California. After attending the USAF Test Pilot school, Onizuka was transferred to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Meritorious Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. El Onizuka was born June 24, 1946, in Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii. During his career he logged more than 1,700 hours flight time, including 74 hours in space. He is survived by his wife, the former Lorna Leiko Yoshida, and their two children, Janelle Mitsue and Darian Lei Shizue. | ||
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RONALD E. MCNAIR Mission Specialist Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| Ron McNair was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978, along with fellow Challenger crew members El Onizuka, Dick Scobee and Judy Resnik. After completing a one-year training and evaluation period he was qualified for future shuttle flights as a mission specialist. His first mission, STS-11, was the February 1983 flight of the Challenger, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. McNair was primarily responsible for deploying one of two communication satellites for the mission. This mission also allowed astronauts to fly freely in space without a lifeline to the mothership. It was McNair who positioned the crewmen around the payload bay using the Canadian arm. He also filmed motion pictures with the Cinema 360 camera and answered science-related questions from President Ronald Reagan. McNair graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T in 1971 with a bachelor of science in physics, receiving a Presidential Scholar award (1967-1971) and a Ford Foundation fellowship (1971-1974). He went on to study at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning his doctorate of philosophy in physics in 1976. Following graduation, he became a staff physicist with Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. Ron McNair was born October 21, 1950, in Lake City, South Carolina. The second African-American to venture into space, he logged a total of 191 hours flight time. He is survived by his wife, the former Cheryl Moore, and their two children, Reginald Ervin and Joy Cheray. | ||
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GREGORY B. JARVIS Payload Specialist Astronaut Challenger STS 51-L |
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| Greg Jarvis was selected as a Payload Specialist astronaut candidate in July 1984. He was selected from over 600 engineer applicants from Hughes Aircraft. After his initial launch date was delayed twice, he reentered training in November 1985, and prepared to fly the STS 51-L mission. His duties on Challenger 51-L were to conduct fluid dynamics experiments that would have tested the reactions of satellite propellants to various shuttle maneuvers and simulated spacecraft movements. Jarvis entered the Air Force in July 1969, as a second lieutenant assigned to the space division in El Segundo, California. After leaving active duty in 1973 with the rank of captain, he joined the Hughes Aircraft Space and Communications group as a communications subsystem engineer. In 1982, he was named assistant spacecraft system engineering manager. He graduated from State University of New York in Buffalo in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1969, Jarvis earned his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston. Greg Jarvis was born on August 24, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. He is survived by his wife, the former Marcia G. Jarboe. | ||
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S. CHRISTA MCAULIFFE Payload Specialist Astronaut Teacher in Space Challenger STS, 51-L |
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| Christa McAuliffe was selected as the primary candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space project on July 19, 1985. Vice President George Bush announced that McAuliffe was the unanimous choice of NASA, selected from over 11,000 applicants, to be the first Teacher in Space. McAuliffe's responsibility on the Challenger mission was to teach lessons from space via satellite to school children across the United States. Project "Classroom Earth" consisted of two lessons: "The Ultimate Field Trip" and "Where We've Been, Where We're Going, and Why?" As the first Teacher in Space, McAullife's goal was to "humanize the Space Age by giving a perspective from a non-astronaut." McAuliffe began teaching in 1970 in Concord, New Hampshire. She taught American History and English to 7th and 8th graders; and American History, Economics, Law, and Social Studies to high school students. After developing her own curriculum, she also taught a new course called "The American Woman." McAuliffe earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Framingham State College, Massachusetts, in 1970, and a Master's degree in Education from Bowie State College in Maryland eight years later. Christa McAuliffe was born on September 2, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is survived by her husband, Steven J. McAuliffe, and their two children, Scott and Caroline. | ||
