John S. Bull

John Sumter Bull ( born September 25, 1934 in Memphis, Tennessee; † August 11, 2008 in South Lake Tahoe, California ) was an American astronaut who was never used on a space flight.

Bull received in 1957 a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University, a master's degree in 1971 and his doctorate in 1973, both in aeronautical engineering from Stanford University.

Bull joined in June 1957 to active duty in the Navy and received in Kingsville (Texas ) his pilot training. After deployments to the Naval Air Station in Miramar (California ) and on the aircraft carriers USS Ranger, USS Hancock and the USS Kitty Hawk in the western Pacific in February 1964, he joined his training as a test pilot at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Astronauts activity

In April 1966, Bull was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. He was inducted as a member of the support teams for Apollo 8 and as a team leader during testing the Lunar Module in the vacuum chamber. After he had learned that he was suffering from a lung disease, Bull in 1968 was again out of the astronaut corps.

After completing his studies at Stanford Bull returned to NASA. From 1973 to 1985 he worked at the NASA Ames Research Center, where he conducted simulations and flight tests with newly developed aircraft and helicopters. From 1986 until his retirement from NASA in 1989, he was involved in research programs for autonomous space technologies.

Private

John Bull is survived by his wife and two children.