C. Gordon Fullerton
- STS-3 (1982)
- STS -51 F ( 1985)
Charles Gordon Fullerton ( born October 11, 1936 in Rochester, New York; † August 21, 2013 in Lancaster, California ) was an American astronaut.
Fullerton visited the U.S. Grant High School in Portland, Oregon. In 1957, he received a Bachelor and a Masters degree in mechanical engineering in 1958 from the California Institute of Technology. In July 1958 Fullerton joined the United States Air Force, after having worked as a design engineer for Hughes Aircraft in Culver City ( California). After his pilot training, he flew the F -86, and later he became a B-47 bomber pilot at Davis - Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. In 1964, he was educated at Edwards Air Force Base as a test pilot, and then he worked as such at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Astronauts activity
Fullerton applied both at NASA and in the Air Force as an astronaut and was selected on 30 June 1966 by the Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory for the program ( MOL). He was assigned as crew of the military space station, until the program was halted in 1969, and he was taken by NASA.
Fullerton was a member of the support team for the lunar missions Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17 after the end of the lunar program in 1972 moved to Fullerton Space Shuttle program and worked on the cockpit design. 1977 Fullerton became a test pilot for the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise, conducting through with Fred Haise approach and landing tests.
On 22 March 1982 Fullerton began as a pilot of the space shuttle Columbia under the command of Jack Lousma to his first mission into space. In the eight-day STS-3 mission, the Columbia has been tested for its third test flight on their thermal resistance through. In addition, the robot arm of the shuttle was tested. The landing took place on 30 March 1982 for the first and only time at White Sands in New Mexico.
On July 29, 1985 Fullerton started as commander of the space shuttle Challenger on Spacelab - 2 mission (STS -51 -F) into space. It was the first flight of the European space laboratory module without pressure - the experiments ( mainly in the disciplines of astronomy and astrophysics ) were installed on three pallets in the cargo area of the Challenger. The crew worked in two shifts to maximize the utilization of the experiments.
After his space flights Fullerton was still research pilot at Dryden Flight Research Center NASA and at Edwards Air Force Base. After that, he was project pilot for the Propulsion Controlled Aircraft program and was involved in the launch Pegasus rocket. Fullerton left NASA on December 31, 2007 and went into retirement.
Private
From his marriage two children were born.