![]() ![]() The pilots were not told of this true mission, though they were later informed. The secret and primary mission was to perform reconnaissance missions on Soviet Union and China. Crews would be in orbit for about a month and they would be able to freely move about the laboratory. Publicly, the MOL program was designed to determine the usefulness of man in space. A joint program between the United States Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the MOL program would send humans into space. The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program was a follow-on to the X-20 Dyna-Soar program. Main article: Manned Orbiting Laboratory Crippen with a MOL spacesuit He has spent more than 6,500 hours in the air as either a pilot or an astronaut. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. After graduation, Crippen worked as an instructor at Edwards Air Force Base until October 1966 when he was picked for the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School. He later went to Edwards Air Force Base in California to attend the U.S. As a Naval Aviator from the summer of 1962 to the end of 1964, he made two deployments aboard the USS Independence, flying the A-4 Skyhawk in Attack Squadron 72 ( VA-72). He also spent time at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Florida and the Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Texas. Military career Ĭrippen was commissioned through the United States Navy's Aviation Officer Candidate School (AOCS) Program at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Throughout his career in the military and at NASA, he worked on computer programming, including programs such as the Manned Orbiting Laboratory, Skylab and the Space Shuttle. ![]() He attended the first computer programming class held at the University of Texas. Ĭrippen became interested in flying and computers at a very early age. He was selected as a member of the Texas Alpha chapter of Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Gamma Tau. In 1960, he graduated with his Bachelor of Science degree. ![]() After graduating from New Caney High School in New Caney, Texas in 1955, Crippen went to the University of Texas at Austin to major in Aerospace Engineering. Robert Crippen was born in Beaumont, Texas, on September 11, 1937. He is also a fellow of several organizations, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP). He also went to Lockheed Martin and Thiokol Propulsion before retiring to private life in Florida.Ĭrippen has received several awards and honors, including the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2006, and having an elementary school named after him in Porter, Texas. He was also on the commission responsible for determining the cause of the accident.Īfter retiring as an astronaut, Crippen worked his way through management at NASA, namely as Director, Space Shuttle, at NASA Headquarters, then Director of the Kennedy Space Center. In 1986, Crippen participated in the recovery operations for the remains of crew members after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He was also a part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT), ASTP support crew member, and the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) for the Space Shuttle. He traveled into space four times: as pilot of STS-1 in April 1981, the first Space Shuttle mission and as commander of STS-7 in June 1983, STS-41-C in April 1984, and STS-41-G in October 1984. Robert Laurel Crippen (born September 11, 1937) is an American retired naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and retired astronaut. ![]()
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