William E. Thornton
- STS -8 ( 1983)
- STS 51 -B ( 1985)
William Edgar Thornton ( born April 14, 1929 in Faison, North Carolina ) is a former American astronaut.
After studying physics Thornton went through the Reserve Officer Training Corps of the Air Force. From 1956 to 1959 he was chief engineer at Del Mar Engineering Labs in Los Angeles. He then took up the study of medicine. His internship he completed in 1964 at Wilford Hall Hospital of the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base from San Antonio. As a physician, he returned to active duty Air Force and the air medical and aerospace department at the Brooks Air Force Base was assigned, where in 1964 he completed his basic training as a flight surgeon. During his military service he worked in the medical space research. He designed and built the first apparatus for mass determination in space, which is still in use today.
Astronauts activity
In August 1967, Thornton was selected as an astronaut by NASA science. He completed the necessary flight training on the Reese Air Force Base in Texas. Thornton was in the doctors team of highly successful Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test ( smeat ), a 56 -day simulation of a Skylab mission, which served the basic medical research and the testing of equipment and procedures. Thornton was the mission specialist for SMD III, a simulation of a Spacelab Life Sciences mission.
Thornton was a member of the support team for the Skylab missions 2, 3 and 4, he was responsible for the experiments for determining the mass, body measurement, hemodynamics, fluid displacement in human and physical condition. He documented the first to the relocation and loss of fluids, including the increase in size and the rapid muscle loss during space flight.
As a member of a development group of the Astronaut Office Thornton was responsible for the development of procedures and techniques for interruptible loads and the Constitution of the crew during flight. During the first space shuttle missions, he continued his research on the circulation, muscles, bones and nervous system. He developed the treadmill for the Space Shuttle and various other onboard equipment. Meanwhile, Thornton holds ranging from military weapons systems to the first real-time ECG computer analysis of over 35 patents.
STS -8
On August 30, 1983 Thornton flew on the Space Shuttle Challenger for the first time into space. This mission was the first flight of a space shuttle, in which both the start and landing at night were made. The cargo consisted of the Indian multipurpose Insat 1-B. During this flight Thornton led by numerous anatomical studies, continuing his previous research in this area and in space continues.
STS -51- B
On 29 April 1985 Thornton flew again with the Challenger space shuttle into space. The payload of the mission consisted of the Spacelab the European Space Agency ( ESA). Were carried 15 experiments, especially for the study of fluids and materials in weightless space. For biological studies also were two monkeys and 24 rodents on board. 14 experiments were successfully carried out. In addition, the scientific satellite NUSAT was suspended.
According to the NASA
After retiring from NASA in 1994, Thornton was clinical assistant professor in the medical department of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston; He also worked as a professor at the University of Houston -Clear Lake.
Private
William Thornton and his wife Elizabeth have two children.