Guy Gardner (astronaut)
- STS -27 ( 1988)
- STS -35 ( 1990)
Guy Spence Gardner ( born January 6, 1948 in Altavista, Virginia ) is a former American astronaut.
Training
Gardner graduated in on the George Washington High School in Virginia in 1965. Subsequently, he studied engineering, aerospace engineering and mathematics at the United States Air Force Academy and graduated in 1969 with a bachelor's degree. In 1970, he earned a master's degree from Purdue University in aerospace engineering.
U.S. Air Force
He joined in 1971 in the U.S. Air Force and was trained on the F- 4th In 1972 he flew on 177 combat missions in the Vietnam War from Thailand. He then became an instructor for the F-4 and in 1975 he was educated at Edwards Air Force Base as a test pilot.
NASA
In 1980 he was elected to the 9th group of NASA astronauts and one year trained as a pilot.
STS -62 -A
For the first mission of a Space Shuttle on Launch Complex SLC -6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, he was selected as a pilot, but this mission was canceled after the Challenger disaster. His commander was Robert Laurel Crippen become, who had flown as a pilot astronaut legend John Watts Young, the STS- 1, the maiden flight of a space shuttle.
STS -27
His first and shortest space missions had Gardner as pilot on STS -27 from December 2 to December 6, 1988, Space Shuttle Atlantis. This four-day mission was a secret order of the U.S. Department of Defense, where the reconnaissance satellite Lacrosse was one exposed. On board was Jerry Lynn Ross, who was to leave later became the first man into space seven times.
STS -35
In his second and final space mission Gardner was back as a pilot, but this time on board the Columbia, on the go. The main objective of the mission were astronomical observations with the instruments of the ASTRO -1 platform in the UV and X-rays.
During this flight, there were start-up delays, so that faced the first time in history, two space shuttles ready on the launch pad.
During the mission, there were some technical problems, so functioned as the display for aligning the ASTRO -1 telescopes not. The telescopes therefore had to be controlled from Earth. However, the scientific objectives could still be achieved at around 70 percent.
After the space flight
In 1991, he left NASA to become chief test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base. In 1992 he returned to NASA and left for the U.S. Air Force finally to guide the Shuttle -Mir program.
Summary
Private
He is married and has three children.
In his youth, Gardner was active in the Boy Scouts of America and the second highest rank, Life Scout called.