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Author
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Topic: Happy Birthday Owen Garriott
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Mike Isbell
Member Posts: 338
From: Silver Spring, Maryland USA
Registered: Aug 2003
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posted 11-22-2010 02:30 PM
  
Dr. Owen Garriott celebrates his 80th birthday today. Selected as an astronaut in 1965, Dr. Garriott flew on Skylab 2 in 1973 and on STS-9 in 1983. Happy birthday Dr. Garriott! |
Steve Procter
Member Posts: 967
From: Leeds, Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Oct 2000
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posted 11-22-2010 02:59 PM
A fact well known to me as it is my birthday also! It's also Guy Bluford's birthday today I seem to recall.  |
issman1
Member Posts: 872
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-22-2010 04:10 PM
Dr. Garriott was originally going to fly a third mission on STS-61K in 1986.As is known, he retired from NASA after Challenger. 61K's payload re-flew on STS-45 in 1992. Among his other crewmates destined never to fly were veteran David Griggs (killed in a plane crash in 1989) and rookie Michael Lampton (medically disqualified in 1991). However, Dr. Garriott has the distinction of being the first U.S. astronaut whose offspring went into orbit, as a "space tourist", in 2008. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 1998
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-22-2010 04:59 PM
Before 61K, wasn't Garriott assigned to STS-51H or 51K, the EOM-1 Spacelab mission? I believed the crew also had Brand as CDR and Mike Smith as PLT. |
issman1
Member Posts: 872
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-22-2010 06:05 PM
I believe that Brand was the CDR for STS-61K. Smith was named as PLT for STS-61I, which would have included a journalist as PS.It's a strange quirk of history that Dr. Garriott's shuttle flights were led by Apollo veterans (John Young being CDR of STS-9). Garriott himself was among the first scientist-astronauts selected by NASA during Apollo (including STS-9 MS Robert Parker). Both Skylab-3 and Spacelab-1 ultimately led to the International Space Station which his son, Richard, visited. |
MarylandSpace
Member Posts: 934
From:
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 11-22-2010 11:07 PM
quote:
Originally posted by issman1:
However, Dr. Garriott has the distinction of being the first U.S. astronaut whose offspring went into orbit, as a "space tourist"
In my short discussion at the 2009 Astronaut Hall of Fame, I quickly realized that Richard Garriott was more than a "space tourist" on a vacation. |
issman1
Member Posts: 872
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-23-2010 05:50 AM
True. I also wrote that term in quotation marks.It was often used by the mainstream news media and public at large, who were unaware or unconcerned about Mr. Garriott's official designation of Space Flight Participant. Perhaps it's a sign of the times that space travel is so well established that "space tourist" is part of postmodern culture. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 1998
From: Toms River, NJ,USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-23-2010 08:56 AM
I was correct in my thinking. From a 1984 JSC press release (84-036):FLIGHT 51-H
Projected date: November 27, 1985
Orbiter: Atlantis
Payload:
EOM-1
Flight crew:
Vance D. Brand, CDR
Michael J. Smith, PLT
Robert C. Springer, MS
Owen K. Garriott, MS
Claude Nicollier, MS
Payload specialists:
Michael L. Lampton
Byron K. Lichtenberg (MIT) |
issman1
Member Posts: 872
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-23-2010 10:05 AM
The fact that shuttle missions and crews changed as much as they did in the 1980s, is really no different to today.Since it was Guy Bluford's 68th birthday as well, it's interesting to note that (like Dr. Garriott) his second mission, STS-61A/Spacelab D-1 in 1985, approximated conditions and research aboard the future Columbus module. |
Kite
Member Posts: 220
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 11-23-2010 11:49 AM
I hope Dr Owen Garriott had a very happy 80th birthday. Sorry I'm a day late. |
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