Robert Crippen

• STS-1 (1981)
• STS -7 ( 1983)
• STS 41 -C ( 1984)
• STS 41 -G ( 1984)

Laurel Robert "Bob" Crippen ( born September 11, 1937 in Beaumont, Texas, United States) is a former astronaut of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. space agency NASA.

Curriculum vitae

Crippen grew up in Porter ( Texas). He graduated from New Caney High School in New Caney (Texas ) in 1960 and received a bachelor's degree in aeronautics and aerospace engineering from the University of Texas.

In Florida and Texas Crippen was trained as a Navy pilot. From June 1962 to November 1964 he was assigned as pilot on board the aircraft carrier USS Independence of the fleet squadron VA -72. He then attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in California and remained there until his selection to the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory ( MOL) Program in June 1966. Crippen was in the second group of pilots that the MOL - program have been allocated. When the Air Force abandoned their manned space program, 7 were her 17 astronauts, including Crippen, taken by NASA.

Astronauts activity

He was a member of the support team (support crew ) for the Skylab missions 2, Skylab 3 and Skylab 4, and for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project ( ASTP ), which was successfully completed in July 1975.

STS-1

April 12, 1981 Crippen began as a pilot of the Columbia to the first Space Shuttle mission STS -1. It was the first space flight of a reusable space vehicle. Commander of STS- 1 was John Young.

NASA designated STS- 1 as the " boldest test flight in history " ( "the boldest test flight in history" ).

STS -7

The second mission of the Challenger launched Crippen on 18 June 1983 as commander. It was the first mission with a crew of five. During the six-day flight, the satellite ANIK C-2 and PALAPA B-1 were exposed. It was also the first time with the robot arm ( RMS), the research platform SPAS -01 exposed and captured again. STS -7 was the first flight of an American woman ( Sally Ride) into space.

STS 41 -C

During the seven- day mission in April 1984 Crippen worked again as a commander on the Challenger. A highlight of the mission was that of the satellite Solar Maximum Mission ( SMM) directly in-orbit repair. In addition, the Long Duration Exposure Facility ( LDEF ) was suspended with 57 experiments and recaptured in a later mission and returned to Earth.

STS -41 -G

As commander of the Challenger Crippen launched on October 5, 1984 for the first time with a crew of seven. It was the first flight with two female crew members ( Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan ).

STS -62 -A

Crippen was assigned as commander of the first launch of a Space Shuttle on Launch Complex SLC -6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. After the Challenger disaster this mission, however, was not carried out.

Other activities at NASA

After his active astronauts activity Crippen in 1986 was the Deputy Director of Shuttle Operations at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC ) and was responsible for the Shuttle preparation and mission execution, and for the return of the orbiter from the Edwards Air Force Base for KSC. In January 1990, Crippen Director of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC was. Starting in January 1992, he was for three years the director of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC ) in Florida, where he was responsible for 22 flights of the Space Shuttle.

According to the NASA

From April 1995, Crippen was vice president of Lockheed Martin Information System and joined in December 1996 as president to Morton Thiokol, today as ATKS Launch Systems Group, part of the defense and aviation Alliant Techsystems Nehme.

Special features and Records

• First space shuttle flight (STS -1)
• First person who came into space with a solid rocket propulsion (STS -1)
• First landing of a spacecraft in gliding (STS -1)
• First space mission with five crew members ( STS -7)
• First space mission with seven crew members ( STS -41 -G)
• First man to fly a space shuttle four times

Honors

2006 Crippen was the Congressional Space Medal of Honor awarded on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight, STS -1. John Young, the commander of STS- 1, was given for this mission the same award already in 1981.