Samuel T. Durrance
| Samuel Durrance | |
|---|---|
|
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| Country: | United States |
| Organization: | NASA |
| selected on | June 20, 1984 ( ASTRO-1 ) |
| Calls: | 2 space flights |
| Start of the first space flight: |
2nd December 1990 |
| Landing of the last space flight: |
March 18, 1995 |
| Time in space: | 25d 14h 13min |
| retired on | March 18, 1995 |
| Space flights | |
Samuel Thornton Durrance (born September 17, 1943 in Tallahassee , Florida ) is an American astrophysicist . In 1990 and 1995 he took part in space flights of the Space Shuttle as a payload specialist, but was not a professional astronaut for NASA.
Life
Durrance received a bachelor's degree in physics in 1972 and a master's degree in physics from California State University . In 1980 he received a PhD in astro-geophysics from the University of Colorado at Boulder .
Durrance is a physics and astronomy scientist at Johns Hopkins University . He co-developed the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope , one of the instruments at the Astro-Observatory.
Astronaut activity
STS-61-E
Durrance should have started the ASTRO-1 mission on the Columbia space shuttle in March 1986. The STS-61-E mission was canceled after the Challenger disaster . The team would have consisted of Jon McBride , Richard N. Richards , David Leestma , Jeffrey A. Hoffman , Robert A. Parker , Samuel Durrance and Ronald A. Parise .
STS-71-A
The STS-71-A mission with the space shuttle Atlantis should have brought the ASTRO-2 Spacelab mission into space on January 12, 1987. The flight was canceled after the Challenger disaster. The team would have consisted of Jon McBride, Richard Richards, David Leestma, Jeffrey Hoffman, Robert Parker, payload specialist Kenneth Nordsieck and one of the two other payload specialists Samuel Durrance and Ronald Parise.
STS-71-M
The mission STS-71-M with the space shuttle Challenger should have brought the ASTRO-3-Spacelab mission into space on August 18, 1987. The flight was canceled after the Challenger disaster. The team also included payload specialist Kenneth Nordsieck and one of the two other payload specialists Samuel Durrance and Ronald Parise.
STS-35
On December 2, 1990, Durrance launched into space as a payload specialist on the Columbia space shuttle. On this flight there were take-off delays, so that for the first time in history two space shuttles stood facing each other on the launch pads, ready for take-off. The main objective of the mission was astronomical observations with the devices of the ASTRO-1 platform in the range of UV and X-rays. There were some technical problems during the mission, for example the displays for aligning the ASTRO-1 telescopes did not work. The telescopes therefore had to be controlled from Earth. The scientific goals could still be achieved to about 70 percent.
STS-67
On his second space mission, Durrance flew into space on March 2, 1995 as a payload specialist with the space shuttle Endeavor . It was the astro-observatory's second flight with three ultra-violet telescopes on board. The flight lasted over 16 days and ended with landing on March 18, 1995 at Edwards Air Force Base in California .
Private
Samuel Durrance is married and has two children.
See also
Web links
- Short biography of Samuel T. Durrance at spacefacts.de
- NASA biography of Samuel T. Durrance (English; PDF)
- Biography of Samuel T. Durrance in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Durrance, Samuel T. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Durrance, Samuel Thornton (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astrophysicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tallahassee , Florida |