John E. Blaha

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John E. Blaha
John E. Blaha
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on May 19, 1980
(9th NASA Group)
Calls: 5 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		March 13, 1989
Landing of the
last space flight: 		January 22, 1997
Time in space: 161d 2h 45min
retired on September 1997
Space flights

John E. Blaha (* 26. August 1942 in San Antonio , Texas ) is a former American soldier of the United States Air Force and astronaut of NASA . Blaha is married with three children and two grandchildren. After leaving NASA in September 1997, he moved back to San Antonio.

Life

Blaha joined the Granby High School in Norfolk ( Virginia ) in 1960 and then enlisted in the United States Air Force . There he received a bachelor's degree in engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1965 . In 1966, he earned a Masters in Space Engineering from Purdue University .

Blaha received his pilot's wings at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona in 1967 . He then flew machines of the types F-4 Phantom II , F-102 Delta Dagger , F-106 Delta Dart and A-37 Dragon Fly . He completed 361 combat missions in the Vietnam War and then (1971) attended the Aerospace Research Pilot School of the US Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California . There he flew the research aircraft NF-104, a rocket-propelled version of the later Starfighter F-104 , up to an altitude of 31,800 meters. At the test pilot school he was responsible as an instructor for aircraft of the type Starfighter, where he taught various aerodynamic maneuvers.

In 1973 he took a job as a test pilot for the Royal Air Force at the Airplane and Armament Experimental Establishment in Boscombe Down , United Kingdom . During his three-year secondment, he flew Jaguar , Buccaneer and Hawk fighter jets . In 1976 he graduated from USAF Air Command and Staff College. Upon graduation, he worked for the Assistant Chief of Staff Studies and Analyzes at the United States Air Force Headquarters at the United States Department of Defense .

Astronaut activity

He was selected as an astronaut in May 1980. In addition to his space flights, Blaha was chairman of the NASA Space Flight Safety Panel. Blaha headed the development team for the Orbiter Head Up Display System .

STS-61-H

In February 1985, Blaha was assigned to pilot the STS-61-H mission . The Columbia mission planned for June 1986 was canceled after the Challenger disaster . A commercial communications satellite should have been suspended. Besides Blaha, the team would have consisted of Michael Coats , Anna Fisher , James Buchli , Robert C. Springer , the British payload specialist Nigel R. Wood and the Indonesian payload specialist Pratiwi Sudarmono .

STS-29

Blaha was a Discovery pilot for Mission STS-29 , which took off from Kennedy Space Center , Florida on March 13, 1989. The landing took place on March 18 at Edwards Air Force Base . During this mission the East Tracking and Data Relay satellite was deployed .

STS-33

Blaha's second space flight was again as a pilot of the Discovery ( STS-33 ). He was taken into the team at short notice after the originally intended pilot David Griggs had a fatal accident in June 1989. The launch was on November 22, 1989. A Defense Ministry satellite was suspended during the flight . After 79  orbits , the Discovery returned to Edwards Air Force Base on November 27th.

STS-43

Blaha's first flight as commander was on board Atlantis ( STS-43 ). During the flight from August 2 to 11, 1991, five crew members were on board. Take-off and landing took place from the Kennedy Space Center. The West Tracking and Data Relay satellite was deployed during the mission .

STS-58

STS-58 Columbia took off from the Kennedy Space Center on October 18, 1993 with Blaha as commanding a seven-person crew. The 14-day mission is viewed by NASA as one of the most successful Spacelab flights NASA has ever conducted. The landing took place at Edwards Air Force Base.

STS-79

Blaha began Russian language training at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey , California in August 1994 . He then started the intensive training program at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City , Russia in January 1995. The Space Shuttle Atlantis ( STS-79 ) took off on September 16, 1996. After docking, Blaha went on board the MIR space station. There he worked as the 2nd flight engineer and spent the following four months with the MIR-22 crew. During this time he carried out materials research and fluid science. Blaha returned aboard Atlantis ( STS-81 ) on January 22, 1997 .

Summary

No mission function Flight date Flight duration
1 STS-29 pilot March 13 - March 18, 1989 4d 23h 38m
2 STS-33 pilot November 23 - November 28, 1989 5d 00h 06m
3 STS-43 commander August 2 - August 11, 1991 8d 21h 21m
4th STS-58 commander October 18 - November 1, 1993 14d 00h 12m
5 STS-79 to
STS-81 back		 Mission specialist September 16, 1996 - January 22, 1997 128d 05h 28m

Awards

See also

Web links

Commons : John Elmer Blaha  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Blaha, John E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blaha, John Elmer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH San Antonio , Texas