Michael Coats

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Michael Coats
Michael Coats
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on January 16, 1978
( 8th NASA Group )
Calls: 3 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		August 30, 1984
Landing of the
last space flight: 		May 6, 1991
Time in space: 19d 7h 56min
retired on August 1, 1991
Space flights

Michael Coats (* 16th January 1946 in Sacramento , California , USA ) is a former American astronaut and was between December 2005 and December 2012 Director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center of NASA .

education

Coats received a bachelor's degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1968 , a masters degree in Administration of Science and Technology from George Washington University in 1977, and a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1979 .

Military career

In 1969 Coats became a naval aviator. From August 1970 to September 1972 he was stationed as an A-7E pilot on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and flew 315 combat missions over Vietnam during this time. From September 1972 he worked as a pilot instructor in California before starting his training as a test pilot in December 1973. Before applying to NASA, he worked as a test pilot and pilot instructor.

Astronaut activity

In January 1978, Coats was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. He was a member of the support team for the space shuttle mission STS-4 and liaison officer ( CAPCOM ) for the missions STS-4 and STS-5 . From May 1989 to March 1990 he was Acting Chief of the Astronauts Bureau.

STS-41-D

Coats was the pilot of the space shuttle Discovery on its maiden flight on August 30, 1984. Besides the commander, he and the other four crew members were all space newbies. During the six-day mission, the three satellites SBS-D, SYNCOM IV-2 (also known as LEASAT 2) and Telstar 3-C were deployed . In addition, the OAST-1 solar cell experiment and the CFES-III experiment to study crystal growth were carried out. In addition, recordings were made with an IMAX camera that was carried along . During the mission, dangerous ice sheets had to be removed from the orbiter using the shuttle's robot arm.

STS-61-H

In February 1985, Coats was assigned to command 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. The team would have consisted of Michael Coats, John Blaha, Anna Fisher, James Buchli, Robert Springer, the British payload specialist Nigel Wood and the Indonesian payload specialist Pratiwi Sudarmono.

STS-29

On March 13, 1989, Coats flew into space as the commander of the space shuttle Discovery. In addition to carrying out a large number of experiments, the TDRS-4 communications satellite was deployed on this mission . The astronauts also took pictures with a handheld IMAX camera.

STS-39

On April 28, 1991 Coats took off again as commander of the space shuttle Discovery. STS-39 was the Department of Defense's first non-secret shuttle mission. Only the MPEC experiment was classified as secret on this mission. Furthermore, the southern polar lights were examined, various experiments were carried out and several small satellites were exposed.

According to NASA

Coats retired from NASA in 1991 and served as vice president of aerospace and communications for Loral Space Information Systems. From 1996 to 1998 he was Vice President of the Civil Space Program for Lockheed Martin. He then was Vice President, Advanced Space Transportation at Lockheed Martin until 2005.

Return to NASA

From November 2005 to December 2012, Coats was the tenth director of the Johnson Space Center.

Private

Michael Coats is married and has two children.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ NASA: NASA Names Former Astronaut New Johnson Center Director (English)
  2. ↑ SPACE.com: NASA's New Moon Plans: 'Apollo on Steroids' (English)
  3. ↑ SPACE.com: EXCLUSIVE: New NASA JSC Chief Michael Coats Talks About the Agency's Future (English)
  4. ^ Nasa.gov: Johnson Space Center Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa (English)

Web links

Commons : Michael Coats  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Coats, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coats, Michael Lloyd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut and space official
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Sacramento , California, USA