David M. Walker (astronaut)
- STS -51 -A ( 1984)
- STS -30 ( 1989)
- STS -53 (1992)
- STS -69 (1995)
David Mathieson Walker ( born May 20, 1944 in Columbus, Georgia, † April 23, 2001 in Houston, Texas) was an American astronaut.
Start of career
Walker graduated in 1962 at the Eustis High School in Eustis, Florida. He then graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree from his science studies at the United States Naval Academy.
From 1966 to 1970 he was employed at various positions in the U.S. Navy, including the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS America, where he flew the F- 4 Phantom, also in the Vietnam War.
From December 1970 to 1971 he was educated at Edwards Air Force Base as a test pilot, then he served at the Naval Air Test Center of the U.S. Navy, where he tested different variants of the F-4 and F-14.
After further training he worked as an F -14 instructor at the Naval Air Station in Miramar, from 1975, he served on two deployments of the USS America in the Mediterranean.
He had a flight experience of 7,500 flight hours, including 6,500 in jets.
NASA
In 1978 he was elected to the 8th group of NASA astronauts and designed as a pilot of the Space Shuttle.
STS 41 -H
His first division to a space flight was Walker as a pilot of a mission of the U.S. Department of Defense. Under the name of STS -41 -H a reconnaissance satellite should be suspended in September 1984. Due to problems with the satellite IUS upper stage of the flight was canceled and the flight STS -51 -A allocated to NASA astronauts.
STS -51 -A
On his first space mission Walker flew on 8 November 1984 with the Space Shuttle Discovery into orbit. It was the second flight of Discovery. The flight was intended to suspension of two satellites and simultaneously led two exposed satellite mission STS -41 -B back to Earth.
STS -61- G
Walker's second mission was planned for May 1986. As commander of mission STS -61- G he should conduct exposing the Galileo spacecraft. Another crew members Ronald Grabe, John Fabian and James van Hoften were provided. After the Challenger disaster in January 1986, however, all shuttle flights were suspended.
STS -30
On his second space flight in May 1989 Walker flew as commander of Atlantis into space. Main objective of the mission was the suspension of the Venus probe Magellan with an IUS upper stage shortly after the shuttle launch. In the further course of the mission had to be replaced one of the five main computer in orbit. STS -30 was the first mission in the space shuttle was used to launch an interplanetary spacecraft.
STS -44
Walker was assigned as commander of mission STS -44. However, on 5 May 1989, there was an air incident, in which Walker with his T -38 jet flew in within 30 meters of a commercial airliner. Due to this incident, Walker was removed from the team of STS- 44 and replaced by Frederick Gregory.
STS -53
The third flight took him back to the Discovery into space. This was the last purely military flight of a space shuttle. The main payload was secret and was exposed to six hours after the start at 19:18 UTC. Presumably there was a spy satellites for surveillance of radio signals. The mass of cargo designated as DOD -1 was reported to be 10.5 tons.
STS -69
He received his fourth flight from 7 to 18 September 1995 with the Endeavour. During the eleven-day mission, the second several-day free flight of the Wake Shield Facility ( WSF ) was performed, a saucer- shaped satellite that flies freely next to the shuttle. Here, an experiment was conducted in which, in the WSF in perfect vacuum a very thin film was formed. In addition, the crew continued the astronomical satellite SPARTAN 201 and caught him again, led a six-hour spacewalk by the testing of assembly techniques for the International Space Station and tested thermal improvements to the space suits used. At the same time various experiments biomechanics, biotechnology, biomedicine and agriculture was carried out.
Summary
According to the NASA
Walker took from the U.S. Navy and NASA in 1996 and his departure was made in the following years as vice president of several electronics companies. From the professional life he retired in 1999 completely back. He died in 2001 from cancer.
He was on the well-known American Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC buried, to which also the American space legend Virgil Grissom is buried.
Private
Walker is survived by his wife Paige and two children from his first marriage.