David C. Hilmers

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David Hilmers
David Hilmers
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on May 19, 1980
( 9th NASA Group )
Calls: 4 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		3rd October 1985
Landing of the
last space flight: 		January 30, 1992
Time in space: 20d 14h 16min
retired on 1992
Space flights

David Carl Hilmers (born January 28, 1950 in Clinton , Iowa ) is a retired American astronaut .

Hilmers received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Cornell College in 1972 and a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1977 and an electrical engineering degree from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1978 . In July 1972, he joined the United States Marine Corps . After basic training and his pilot training, he was stationed in North Carolina , the Mediterranean , Iwakuni, Japan and California .

Astronaut activity

In July 1980, Hilmers was selected by NASA as a candidate for astronauts. At NASA he worked on rocket upper stages such as B. PAM, IUS and Centaur. He developed software for the shuttle in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), he was training coordinator in the astronaut office and worked on various payloads for the US Department of Defense. As a liaison officer ( CAPCOM ) he was responsible for the missions STS-41-D , STS-41-G , STS-51-A , STS-51-C and STS-51-D , and he was also in the astronaut's office for matters relating to the space station and the Mission planning responsible. After his first space flight, he was employed in the areas of the development of aborted launch procedures, payload security and the development of software.

STS-51-J

On October 3, 1985, Hilmers flew as a mission specialist on the maiden flight of the space shuttle Atlantis . The mission was to deploy two military DSCS III communications satellites. These were brought into geostationary orbit using an IUS rocket stage .

STS-61-F

In May 1985 Hilmers was nominated as a mission specialist for the STS-61-F mission . The space shuttle Challenger should have launched the Ulysses solar probe into space in May 1986 and brought it on course with a Centaur senior. However, the mission was canceled after the Challenger disaster and the Shuttle Centaur program was discontinued in July 1986.

STS-26

On September 29, 1988, Hilmers took off again as a mission specialist with the space shuttle Discovery . After an interruption of over two and a half years caused by the Challenger disaster, the shuttle program was resumed with this mission. In addition to conducting a large number of experiments of all kinds, the mission exposed the TDRS-3 communications satellite . The landing took place on schedule at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

STS-36

Hilmers took off into space for the third time on February 28, 1990 with the space shuttle Atlantis. A secret US Air Force satellite was dropped into low orbit from where this digital reconnaissance satellite was supposed to monitor most of the earth's surface.

STS-42

On January 22nd, 1992 Hilmers started as a mission specialist for Discovery into space. The microgravity laboratory IML-1 was located in the space shuttle's payload bay . The Spacelab module contained experiments to explore the complex effects of weightlessness on living organisms and other materials. In order to be able to carry out experiments around the clock, the crew worked in shifts. Hilmers formed the red team together with William F. Readdy and the German Ulf Merbold , while Norman Thagard , Ronald J. Grabe , Stephen S. Oswald and Roberta Bondar formed the blue team.

According to NASA

Hilmers resigned from NASA in October 1992 and began studying medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Private

David Hilmers is married and has two children.

See also

Web links

Commons : David C. Hilmers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Hilmers, David C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hilmers, David Carl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Clinton , Iowa