Donald E. Williams

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Donald E. Williams
Donald E. Williams
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on January 16, 1978
( 8th NASA Group )
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		April 12, 1985
Landing of the
last space flight: 		October 23, 1989
Time in space: 11d 23h 34min
retired on March 1, 1990
Space flights

Donald Edward Williams (born February 13, 1942 in Lafayette , Indiana - † February 23, 2016 ) was an American astronaut .

Professional background

Piloting

Williams earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1964 . In 1966 he completed his training as a jet pilot with the United States Navy . He was stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and flew 330 combat missions in the Vietnam War . In 1973 he attended the Armed Forces Staff College, in 1974 the US Naval Test Pilot School and served as a test pilot until 1977.

Astronaut activity

In January 1978, Williams was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. After completing his training as a shuttle pilot, he was deployed in various positions at both the Kennedy Space Center and the Johnson Space Center (JSC). From July 1985 he was Deputy Head of Aircraft Operations at JSC; from September 1986 to December 1988 he was head of the Mission Support department in the astronauts office.

STS-41-F

STS-41-F was scheduled for August 1984 with the Discovery. This would have been the Discovery's first flight had it not been canceled due to payload delays. The crew were Karol Bobko, Donald Williams, Rhea Seddon, David Griggs and Jeffrey Hoffman. The flight then became STS-51-E .

STS-51-E

This Challenger flight was canceled due to problems with the IUS upper level. A TDRS satellite should have been deployed. The crew were Karol Bobko, Donald Williams, Rhea Seddon, David Griggs, Jeffrey Hoffman, the French payload specialist Patrick Baudry and the politician Jake Garn .

STS-51-D

On April 12, 1985, Williams took off into space for the first time as a pilot of the space shuttle Discovery . The payload was the two satellites TELESAT-9 and LEASAT-3 . In the latter, however, the automatic commissioning of the antenna and the engine did not work. Despite an exit from space by astronauts Jeffrey Hoffman and David Griggs , this defect could not be repaired.

STS-61-I

STS-61-I was a Challenger mission that was canceled after the Challenger disaster in January 1986. This shuttle mission was scheduled for September 27, 1986. The crew were Donald Williams as commander, pilot Michael J. Smith (died in the Challenger disaster), the three mission specialists James Bagian , Bonnie Dunbar , Manley Lanier Carter, as well as the payload specialist Nagapathi Bhat (India) and a US journalist .

STS-34

On October 18, 1989 Williams launched into space as the commander of the space shuttle Atlantis . The main payload was Jupiter's Galileo probe . It was launched into space together with the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) rocket . Furthermore, experiments on earth exploration, environmental research, material technology, astronomy and medicine were carried out and there was an IMAX camera on board.

According to NASA

In March 1990, Williams retired from the Navy and NASA and became Division Manager at Science Applications International Corporation. He was Program Manager for the National Data Buoy Center Technical Services Contract at the Stennis Space Center .

Private

Donald E. Williams was married with two children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Donald E. Williams  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Williams, Donald E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Williams, Donald Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Lafayette , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH February 23, 2016