Robert Lee Gibson
| Robert Gibson | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Country: |
 United States
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| Organization: |
 NASA
|
| selected on | January 16, 1978 ( 8th NASA Group ) |
| Calls: | 5 space flights |
| Start of the first space flight: |
3rd February 1984 |
| Landing of the last space flight: |
July 7, 1995 |
| Time in space: | 36d 4h 15min |
| retired on | November 15, 1996 |
| Space flights | |
Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson (born October 30, 1946 in Cooperstown , New York State , USA ) is a former American astronaut .
Gibson received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 1969 .
In 1969 Gibson joined the United States Navy . After training as a naval aviator, he was stationed on the aircraft carriers USS Coral Sea and USS Enterprise between 1972 and 1975 . From there he flew combat missions over Southeast Asia. He graduated from the Topgun Naval Aviation School . After returning to the United States, he was an F-14 pilot instructor. In June 1977 he completed his training as a test pilot and then tested the F-14 fighter aircraft at the Naval Air Test Center.
Astronaut activity
In January 1978, Gibson was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. From December 1992 to September 1994 he was head of the astronauts office and from March to November 1996 deputy director of the Flight Crew Operations Directorate, which decides on the crew composition of space flights.
STS-41-B
On February 3, 1984 Gibson started as a pilot of the space shuttle Challenger on its first mission into space . STS-41-B was the first space shuttle flight to both take off and land at the Kennedy Space Center. A highlight of the flight was the first free space exit . The astronauts used manned maneuvering units and were completely independent of the shuttle. The shuttle had the two satellites WESTAR-VI and PALAPA-B2 on board as cargo. However, due to a failure of the Payload Assist Module-D (PAM-D), they entered an orbit that was too low.
STS-61-C
Gibson took off on January 12, 1986 as commander of the Columbia space shuttle for its second flight into space . The main objective of the mission was to put the SATCOM Ku-1 communications satellite into orbit. In addition, numerous smaller astrophysical and material science experiments were carried out.
STS-27
As the commander of the space shuttle Atlantis , Gibson started on December 2, 1988 for the STS-27 mission . The main objective of this mission was the deployment of the military reconnaissance satellite Lacrosse 1 .
STS-47
On September 12, 1992 Gibson started as commander of the space shuttle Endeavor for the tenth Spacelab mission. On board 43 experiments of various kinds were carried out, for example it was tested whether hornets had the ability to build honeycombs in weightlessness . The result was negative. Experiments were also carried out in the medical field. With Mamoru Mōri , the first Japanese astronaut was also on board.
STS-71
On June 27, 1995, Gibson commanded the 100th US manned spacecraft mission. The main tasks were the first coupling during the third flight within the Shuttle Mir program between the space shuttle Atlantis and the space station Mir . In addition, various medical experiments were carried out in the Spacelab module to research the effects of weightlessness on the vascular system, bones and lungs of humans.
According to NASA
Gibson left NASA in November 1996 and became a pilot with Southwest Airlines . In 2006, Gibson was forcibly retired from the FAA . Gibson has publicly opposed federal regulations on the age of 60 for airline pilots.
In December 2006 he became Chief Operating Officer and Chief Test Pilot at the Benson Space Company .
Private
Robert Gibson is married to the astronaut Rhea Seddon and has four children. In 1987 he founded the astronaut band Max Q together with George Nelson and Brewster Shaw . In 2007 he took part in the Reno Air Races .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ 'Hoot' challenges mandatory retirement. (No longer available online.) Lubbock Avalanche Journal, October 30, 2006, archived from the original January 30, 2016 ; Retrieved on October 9, 2012 (English): "Gibson, commander of four of the five space shuttle missions he flew, said the retirement policy is age discrimination." Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Short biography of Robert Lee Gibson at spacefacts.de
- NASA biography of Robert Lee Gibson (English; PDF)
- Biography of Robert Lee Gibson in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gibson, Robert Lee |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gibson, Hoot (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronaut |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 30, 1946 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cooperstown , New York (State) |