Jack R. Lousma

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jack Lousma
Jack Lousma
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on April 4, 1966
( 5th NASA Group )
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		July 28, 1973
Landing of the
last space flight: 		March 30, 1982
Time in space: 67d 11h 13m
EVA inserts: 2
EVA total duration: 11h 02m
retired on October 1, 1983
Space flights

Jack Robert Lousma (born February 29, 1936 in Grand Rapids , Michigan ) is a retired American astronaut . In 1970 he communicated with the crew as a capsule communicator on the Apollo 13 mission.

education

Lousma received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan in 1959 and a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1965 . He also received an honorary degree in aerospace from the University of Michigan in 1973, an honorary degree from Hope College in 1982, and another honorary degree in business administration from Cleary College in 1986 .

In 1959 Lousma went to the US Marine Corps and was used there as a reconnaissance pilot.

Astronaut activity

Working on the ground

Recording of the radio traffic 2:59

In April 1966, Lousma was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA. He was a member of the support teams for the Apollo 9 , 10 and 13 missions. He was also a replacement docking module pilot for the Apollo Soyuz test project .

When the liquid oxygen tank exploded in the service module of the Apollo 13 spacecraft, it was Lousma who, as “ Capcom ” ( Capsule Communicator ) in the Mission Control Center in Houston, kept the connection to the crew and received the message from Pilot Jack Swigert “Okay Houston, we 've had a problem here. " / "Okay, Houston, we just (had) a problem ." Lousma then said, "This is Houston, could you repeat that please?" Thereupon, Commander Jim Lovell answered and repeated "Houston, we've had a problem.", Whereupon Lousma acknowledged receipt of the message and announced an investigation by the ground crew.

Skylab 3

Astronaut Jack Lousma taking a shower in the Skylab

On July 28, 1973 Lousma started as a pilot of an Apollo capsule together with Commander Alan Bean and science pilot Owen Garriott on the 59-day mission Skylab 3 (SL-3) on the US space station Skylab . The team installed six replacement gyroscopes for attitude control and sun protection. In addition to numerous experiments, observing the sun was also on the program of the longest manned space flight to date. On September 25, the Apollo capsule hit the Pacific Ocean and was recovered from the USS New Orleans .

STS-3

Lousma doing an experiment during STS-3

On March 22, 1982, Lousma launched into space as commander of the Columbia space shuttle together with pilot Gordon Fullerton . The eight-day mission was the third test flight of the new space shuttle , which focused on checking the thermal resistance of the orbiter. After testing the robot arm of the shuttle and other successful experiments carried out the Columbia landed at White Sands ( New Mexico ). This was the first and only space shuttle landing at White Sands.

Candidate for the Senate

Lousma left NASA in 1983. In 1984 he ran for the US Senate as a Republican in Michigan . However, he received only 47% of the vote and thus narrowly lost to the Democrat Carl Levin .

Private

Jack Lousma and his wife Gratia Kay have four children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Jack R. Lousma  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NASA: Detailed Chronology of Events Surrounding the Apollo 13 Accident , Apollo 13 radio traffic recording (written), accessed on February 4, 2012 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Lousma, Jack R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lousma, Jack Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH February 29, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Grand Rapids , Michigan , United States