William R. Pogue
- Skylab 4 (1973 )
William Reid Pogue ( born January 23, 1930 in Okemah, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, † March 3, 2014 in Cocoa Beach, Florida) was an American astronaut.
Education and military career
Pogue received in 1951 a Bachelor in Education from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1960 and a Masters in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University. In 1974 he received an honorary doctorate from Oklahoma Baptist University.
Pogue came in 1952 to the United States Air Force. After use in the Korean War, he worked among other things as a pilot instructor at Edwards Air Force Base. From 1960 to 1963 he taught mathematics at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He then spent two years as a test pilot in an exchange program of the U.S. Air Force with the British Royal Air Force.
Astronauts activity
Pogue was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966 for the Apollo program. He was inducted into the support teams for the crews of Apollo missions 7, 11 and 14. Pogue would have had opportunities to fly as pilot of the command module of a late Apollo missions into space, possibly with Apollo 19 This flight was canceled, however, in September 1970, long before the team was officially announced. Pogue was assigned to the Skylab program.
On November 16, 1973 Pogue began as a pilot of Skylab 4 mission to the third and final manned flight to the space station Skylab. In this hitherto longest space flight he was accompanied by Commander Gerald Carr and the science pilot Edward Gibson. They conducted numerous experiments and extensive earthworks and solar observations. On his space flight wore Pogue without official order as the first automatic chronograph in space a Seiko Cal. 6139 with yellow dial, which has since been named after Pogue therefore, called " Pogue Seiko " (see image right). In two spacewalks Pogue spent a total of 13.5 hours outside the space station. After 84 days of Skylab 4 landed back on February 8, 1974, the earth. The set up by Pogue and his teammates record held four years.
After retiring from NASA and the Air Force on September 1, 1975 Pogue was a consultant for the aerospace and producer of films about space travel.
Writing career
1991 Pogue wrote the book How do you go to the Bathroom in Space? (As one goes to the bathroom in space? ), In which he answered 270 questions commonly asked him. He was also in 1992 along with Ben Bova co-author of the Science - ficton novel The Trikon Deception.
Honors
Pogue was 1974, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997. The City of Sand Springs in Oklahoma named its airport in 1975 William R. Pogue Municipal Airport around.
Private
Pogue was descended from the tribe of Choctaw. He was married three times and had three children from his first marriage, and four stepchildren from his second marriage. Pogue died on March 3, 2014 at the age of 84 at his home in Florida.