Robert L. Gibson
- STS 41 -B ( 1984)
- STS 61- C ( 1986)
- STS -27 ( 1988)
- STS -47 (1992)
- STS -71 (1995)
Robert Lee " Hoot" Gibson ( born October 30, 1946 in Cooperstown, New York State, United States) is a former American astronaut.
Gibson received in 1969 a Bachelor in Aerospace Engineering from California Polytechnic State University.
1969 Gibson joined the United States Navy. After training as a naval aviator, he was stationed 1972-1975 on the aircraft carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Enterprise. From there, he flew combat missions over Southeast Asia. He graduated from the Naval Air School Topgun. After his return to the U.S. he was F -14 pilot instructor. In June 1977, he completed his training as a test pilot tested and then the F-14 fighter aircraft to the Naval Air Test Center.
Astronauts activity
In January 1978, Gibson was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. From December 1992 to September 1994 he was Head of the Astronaut Office, and until November 1996, deputy director of the March of Flight Crew Operations Directorate, which decides on the team compositions of space flights.
STS -41 -B
On February 3, 1984 Gibson began as a pilot of the space shuttle Challenger on his first mission into space. STS -41 -B was the first flight of a space shuttle, in which both the start and landing at the Kennedy Space Center took place. A highlight of the flight was the first free spacewalk. This used the Manned Maneuvering Units astronauts and were completely independent of the Shuttle. When charge the shuttle had the two satellites WESTAR -VI and PALAPA B2 on board. However, due to a failure of the Payload Assist Module -D ( PAM -D) they came in too low orbit.
STS 61- C
Gibson launched on 12 January 1986 as commander of the space shuttle Columbia for his second flight into space. The main objective of the mission was to bring the communications satellite SATCOM Ku -1 into orbit. In addition, numerous smaller astrophysical and materials science experiments were performed.
STS -27
As commander of the space shuttle Atlantis Gibson launched on 2 December 1988 on mission STS - 27th The main objective of this mission was exposing the military reconnaissance satellite Lacrosse 1
STS -47
On September 12, 1992 Gibson started as commander of space shuttle Endeavour to the tenth Spacelab mission. On board 43 experiments of various kinds were carried out, for example, it was tested whether hornets have the ability to build honeycombs under microgravity. The result was negative. Even in the medical field experiments were operated. With Mamoru Mōri also the first Japanese astronaut was on board.
STS -71
June 27, 1995 Gibson commanded the 100th mission of a manned spacecraft of the United States. Main tasks was the first coupling during the third flight in the Shuttle -Mir program between the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Mir space station. Moreover, in the module Spacelab various medical experiments to study the effects of microgravity were conducted on the vascular system, bone, and the lungs of the human.
According to the NASA
In November 1996, Gibson left NASA and the pilot was at Southwest Airlines. 2006 Gibson was sent by the FAA forced into retirement. Gibson has publicly spoken out against federal regulations to a maximum age of 60 for airline pilots.
In December 2006, he was chief operating officer and chief test pilot for Benson Space Company.
Private
Robert Gibson is married to astronaut Rhea Seddon and has four children. In 1987 he founded together with George Nelson and Brewster Shaw, the astronaut band Max Q. In 2007 he took part in the Reno Air Races.