Bryan D. O'Connor

• STS 61- B ( 1985)
• STS -40 ( 1991)

Bryan Daniel "OC" O'Connor ( born September 6, 1946 in Orange, California ) is a former American astronaut.

O'Connor received in 1968 a Bachelor in Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1970 and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of West Florida.

O'Connor joined in June 1968, the United States Marine Corps. There he completed his training as a naval aviator in 1970 and 1975 as a test pilot. As a pilot, he was stationed in the U.S., in Europe and in the Western Pacific, as a test pilot, he was mainly due to the testing of high-flyers, such as the Harrier combat aircraft involved.

Astronauts activity

In May 1980, O'Connor was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. He supported the first space shuttle missions in various fields. After the Challenger disaster, he was involved in their education. In March 1986 he became assistant to the Space Shuttle Program Manager and first chairman of the new Space Flight Safety Panel NASA. As of February 1988, he was Deputy Head of the Department Flight Crew Operations.

STS -61- B

On November 27, 1985 O'Connor began as a pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis on his first flight into space. As part of this mission, the three communications satellites Morelos -B ( Mexico), AUSSAT -2 ( Australia) and SATCOM KU -2 were exposed. In two spacewalks his fellow astronaut Jerry Ross and Sherwood Spring proven method of assembling of structural elements in space.

STS -M -61

This mission of the Challenger had in July 1986 a TDRS satellites are put into space. The crew would have consisted of Loren Shriver, Bryan O'Connor, Mark Lee, Sally Ride, William Fisher and the U.S. industry astronaut payload specialist Robert Wood. After the Challenger disaster of this flight was canceled.

STS -40

On 5 June 1991 O'Connor started as commander of the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS - 40th It was the fifth Spacelab mission, the first devoted entirely to life sciences. The main experiment was Spacelab Life Sciences -1. In this physiological studies in humans, performed 30 rodents and thousands of tiny jellyfish. Of the 18 studies were undertaken with ten people, seven rodents and one with the jellyfish.

After retiring from the astronaut corps

In August 1991, O'Connor resigned from NASA and was commanding officer of the Marine Aviation Detachment at the Naval Air Test Center. In 1992 he returned to NASA Headquarters in Washington and was Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight. In the summer of 1992, he became head of the delegation that negotiated the framework for the Shuttle -Mir program in Moscow. In March 1993, he became Director of the Space Station Redesign. In this position, he recommended substantial transformations and savings on the International Space Station so that the project has not been canceled by Congress. In September 1993 he was appointed until the appointment of a full-time Director in January 1994 as acting director of the Space Station program.

In April 1994, O'Connor was appointed director of the entire space shuttle program. In February 1996, he left NASA and worked for the private aviation company Airship Resources Corporation and the consulting firm Futron Corporation. 2002 O'Connor returned to NASA and became head of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance.

Private

Bryan O'Connor is married and has two children.