William E. Thornton
| William Thornton | |
|---|---|
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| Country: | United States |
| Organization: | NASA |
| selected on | August 4, 1967 ( 6th NASA Group ) |
| Calls: | 2 space flights |
| Start of the first space flight: |
August 30, 1983 |
| Landing of the last space flight: |
May 6, 1985 |
| Time in space: | 13d 1h 16min |
| retired on | May 31, 1994 |
| Space flights | |
William Edgar Thornton (born April 14, 1929 in Faison , North Carolina ) is a retired American astronaut .
Thornton received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1952 and his doctorate in medicine there in 1963 .
After studying physics, Thornton served in the Air Force's Reserve Officer Training Corps . From 1956 to 1959 he was a chief engineer at Del Mar Engineering Labs in Los Angeles . Then he took up a medical degree. He completed his internship in 1964 at Wilford Hall Hospital of the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio . As a doctor, he returned to active service in the Air Force and was assigned to the medical aerospace division at Brooks Air Force Base , where he also completed his basic training as an aviation surgeon in 1964. During his military service he worked in the field of medical space research. He developed and constructed the first device for determining mass in space, which is still in use today.
Astronaut activity
In August 1967 Thornton was selected as a science astronaut by NASA. He completed the necessary flight training at Reese Air Force Base in Texas. Thornton was on the medical team of the very successful Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test (SMEAT), a 56-day simulation of a Skylab mission, which was used for basic medical research as well as for testing equipment and procedures. Thornton was also the mission specialist on SMD III, a simulation of a Spacelab Life Sciences mission.
Thornton was a member of the support teams for missions Skylab 2 , 3 and 4 . He was responsible for the experiments on mass determination, body measurement, hemodynamics , fluid displacement in humans and physical condition. He was the first to document the displacement and loss of fluids, including the increase in size and rapid muscle wasting, during a space flight.
As a member of a development group at the Astronauts Bureau, Thornton was responsible for developing deployable payload procedures and techniques and in-flight crew makeup. During the first space shuttle missions, he continued his research on the circulation, muscles, bones and the nervous system. He developed the treadmill for the space shuttle and various other on-board devices. Thornton now holds over 35 patents ranging from military weapon systems to the first real-time EKG computer analysis.
STS-8
On August 30, 1983 Thornton flew into space for the first time with the space shuttle Challenger . This mission was the first space shuttle flight that had both take-off and landing at night. The cargo consisted of the Indian multi-purpose satellite Insat 1-B . During this flight Thornton carried out numerous anatomical studies and thus continued his previous research in this area in space.
STS-51-B
On April 29, 1985 Thornton flew again on the space shuttle Challenger. The mission's payload consisted of the Spacelab of the European Space Agency (ESA). 15 experiments were carried out, mainly to investigate liquids and materials in weightless space. Two monkeys and 24 rodents were also on board for biological studies. 14 experiments were successfully carried out. The science satellite NUSAT was also suspended.
According to NASA
After retiring from NASA in 1994, Thornton became a clinical assistant professor in the medical department of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston ; he also worked as a professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake .
Private
William Thornton and his wife Elizabeth have two children.
See also
Web links
- Short biography of William E. Thornton at spacefacts.de
- NASA biography of William E. Thornton (English; PDF)
- Biography of William E. Thornton in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thornton, William E. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thornton, William Edgar (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronaut |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 14, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Faison , North Carolina |