Robert F. Overmyer

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Robert Overmyer
Robert Overmyer
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on June 30, 1966
( 2nd MOL group )
August 14, 1969
(7th NASA group)
Calls: 2 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		November 11, 1982
Landing of the
last space flight: 		May 6, 1985
Time in space: 12d 2h 22min
retired on May 1986
Space flights

Robert Franklyn Overmyer (born July 14, 1936 in Lorain , state of Ohio , USA ; † March 22, 1996 in Duluth , state of Minnesota , USA) was an American astronaut .

Overmyer attended Westlake High School in Westlake, Ohio. In 1958 he received a bachelor's degree in physics from Baldwin Wallace College and in 1964 a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School .

In January 1958, Overmyer joined the United States Marine Corps . There he was trained as a naval aviator and later also as a test pilot.

Astronaut activity

In 1966, Overmyer was selected for the US Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program and was designated as the crew of the military space station until the program was halted in 1969.

In August 1969 he was accepted into the astronaut program by NASA. From 1969 to 1971 worked in the development of the Skylab space station. From 1971 to 1975 he was a member of the support teams for the Apollo 17 moon mission and the Apollo Soyuz test project , for which he was deployed at the control center in Moscow.

In 1976 Overmyer joined the space shuttle program. In 1977 Overmyer flew a T-38 observation aircraft during two test flights of the space shuttle prototype Enterprise , thus supporting the approach and landing tests with the Enterprise. In 1979 he worked on the completion and preparation of the Columbia space shuttle for its first flight.

Overmyer was a pilot on the STS-5 mission , the first space shuttle mission that was not a test flight. On November 11, 1982, he took off on the Columbia space shuttle for his first flight into space. He was accompanied by Commandant Vance D. Brand and mission specialists Joseph Allen and William Lenoir. The first spaceflight of four people in a spaceship put two communications satellites into orbit. In addition, further tests on the shuttle and various medical and other experiments were carried out. After five days, Overmyer landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California .

On April 29, 1985 Overmyer took off as commander of the space shuttle Challenger for the mission STS-51-B . The Spacelab 3 mission (SL-3) was used to study liquids and materials in weightless space. Two monkeys and 24 rodents were also on board for biological studies. After seven days, Overmyer landed at Edwards Air Force Base.

In May 1986, Overmyer left NASA and the Marine Corps.

Private

Robert Overmyer died on March 22, 1996 in the crash of a light aircraft that he was testing. He left behind his wife Katherine and three children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Robert F. Overmyer  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Overmyer, Robert F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Overmyer, Robert Franklyn (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Lorain , State of Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1996
Place of death Duluth , State of Minnesota , USA