James C. Adamson

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James Adamson
James Adamson
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on May 23, 1984
(10th NASA Group)
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		August 8, 1989
Landing of the
last space flight: 		August 11, 1991
Time in space: 13d 22h 21min
EVA inserts: No
retired on June 1992
Space flights

James Craig "Jim" Adamson (born March 3, 1946 in Warsaw , New York , USA ) is a former American astronaut .

Life

Adamson was born in New York State, but grew up in Monarch , Montana . In 1964 he finished high school in Geneseo and then attended the prestigious United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point , New York. He first studied engineering at USMA and obtained his bachelor's degree in 1969 .

He then made a career in the US Army: At the Army Aviation School in Fort Rucker ( Alabama ) he completed his pilot training with distinction, followed by training as a paratrooper. In the course of his career, Adamson acquired many pilot licenses: from simple propeller planes to turboprop and jet-powered machines, helicopters and commercial aircraft .

After a deployment to Fort Knox , Kentucky , Adamson served in Vietnam and Cambodia as a scout, squad leader and operations leader. Back at home, he embarked on an officer career. He was taught at the Command and General Staff School. He then led rocket artillery groups - initially from 1969 for three years in the Federal Republic , then in Fort Bliss, Texas .

Adamson then resumed his studies. In 1977 he graduated from the famous Princeton University in New Jersey with a Masters degree in aerospace engineering. Then he became a teacher and accepted an assistant professorship in aerodynamics at USMA. He gave courses in aerodynamics, hydromechanics, flight behavior and aircraft control, which he had developed himself, and even designed a flight simulator. He then trained at the Navy Test Pilot School on Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland : He received his test pilot certificate in 1980.

In addition to his hard work, Jim Adamson also excelled in sport in his youth: He was named the best college athlete in the USA. Above all, he made a name for himself as a pistol shooter. He won the national pistol shooting championships twice and led the West Point team at the 1969 U.S. championships.

NASA activity

Immediately after his test pilot training Adamson early 1981 came to the Johnson Space Center of NASA to Houston , Texas . During the test flights of the US space transporter ( STS-1 to STS-4 ) he worked as an aerodynamics officer in the control center. From STS-5 in November 1982, he was responsible for navigation in the Mission Control Center . He held this post up to and including STS-41-C in April 1984. During the time when there were no shuttle missions, he undertook research and test flights for NASA.

Adamson made the leap into the astronaut squad in May 1984. Although he had already applied for the 9th astronaut group as a mission specialist, he was only accepted in the second attempt with group 10. The basic training ended after one year in June 1985.

In November 1985 Adamson was set up for a mission for the first time: STS-61-N was a flight of the US Department of Defense and should be carried out in September 1986 with the space shuttle Columbia . Other crew members were Commander Brewster Shaw , pilot Mike McCulley , the other mission specialists Mark Brown and David Leestma , as well as payload specialist Frank Casserino of the US Air Force. Because of the Challenger accident , this flight was made up as STS-28 in 1989.

From 1986 Jim Adamson worked in management until the shuttle flights were resumed. He was deputy head of the technical department in the so-called NSTS Program Office.

In February 1988, Adamson was officially nominated for STS-28, which would actually be his first mission into space. The five-day flight with Columbia took place in August 1989. It was a flight for the US Department of Defense.

Immediately after his first flight, he resumed an office job for a year. Until October 1990 he supervised the flight preparations of the individual space shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center .

Adamson's second and last mission took place in the fall of 1991 with the orbiter Atlantis . STS-43 launched with a five-man crew on August 2, launching a TDRS communications satellite into orbit. The flight lasted 8 days and 21 hours and ended on August 11th.

According to NASA

James Adamson resigned from his service as an astronaut as well as from his military career at the end of June 1992 (he holds the rank of colonel ). He founded his own consulting firm, Monarch Precision, but soon assumed a leading position at an aerospace company and became President of the Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company . A few months later, in late 1995, he left Lockheed, helped found the United Space Alliance and eventually became its president.

In 1999, Adamson took over the management of Allied Signal Technical Services, which then merged to become Honeywell Technology Solutions . He left Honeywell in March 2001 and has since returned to his own company. In addition, he advises NASA as a member of a committee on the operational readiness of the International Space Station .

Adamson is a second marriage and has three children.

See also

Web links

Commons : James C. Adamson  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

supporting documents

personal data
SURNAME Adamson, James C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Adamson, James Craig (full name); Adamson, Jim (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Warsaw , New York