David C. Hilmers

• STS -51- J (1985)
• STS -26 (1988 )
• STS -36 (1990 )
• STS -42 ( 1992)

David Carl Hilmer ( born January 28, 1950 in Clinton, Iowa, United States) is a former American astronaut.

Hilmer received in 1972 a BA in mathematics from Cornell College in 1977 and a master's in electrical engineering and in 1978 a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

In July 1972, Hilmer joined the United States Marine Corps. After basic training and his training as a pilot, he was in North Carolina, in the Mediterranean, stationed in Iwakuni, Japan and California.

Astronauts activity

In July 1980 Hilmer was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. At NASA, he worked on rocket stages such as PAM, IUS and Centaur. He developed software for the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory in the shuttle (SAIL ), he was Training Coordinator in an astronaut office and worked on various payloads of the U.S. Department of Defense. When connecting speakers ( CAPCOM ), he oversaw the missions STS -41 -D, STS -41 -G, STS -51- A, STS -51 -C and STS -51 -D, also he was in the astronaut office for matters of the space station and the mission planning. After his first space flight, it was used in the fields of development of start termination method, payload safety and the development of software.

STS 51 -J

On 3 October 1985 Hilmer flew as a mission specialist on the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The object of the mission was the exposure of two military DSCS III communications satellite. These were placed in a geostationary orbit by means of an IUS rocket stage.

STS -61- F

In May 1985, Hilmer was nominated as a Mission Specialist for mission STS -61 -F. The Space Shuttle Challenger would bring in May 1986, the Ulysses solar probe into space and to bring a Centaur upper stage on course. The mission was canceled after the Challenger disaster and the Shuttle - Centaur program was discontinued in July 1986.

STS -26

On September 29, 1988 Hilmer started as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery into space again. After a break of about two and a half years, due to the Challenger disaster, the shuttle program was resumed with this mission. In addition to performing a variety of experiments of all kinds, the Mission of the communications satellite TDRS -3. The landing was planned in Edwards AFB, California.

STS -36

Hilmer was launched on 28 February 1990 with the space shuttle Atlantis for the third time into space. It was a secret satellite of the U.S. Air Force suspended in a low orbit, from where this digital reconnaissance satellite should monitor most of the earth's surface.

STS -42

On 22 January 1992 Hilmer started as a mission specialist of Discovery into space. In the payload bay of the Space Shuttle there was the Microgravity Laboratory IML -1. The Spacelab module contained experiments to explore the complex effects of weightlessness on living organisms and other materials. In order to conduct experiments around the clock, the crew worked in shifts. Hilmer formed together with Readdy and the German Ulf Merbold the red team, while Thagard, grave, Oswald and Bondar made ​​the blue team.

According to the NASA

Hilmer retired in October 1992 from NASA and began to study medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Private

David Hilmer is married and has two children.