About Robert Crippen:

The Space Shuttle consumed a major portion of my life, nearly thirty years.  I was there at the beginning when we were defining crew requirements.  That included the computer requirements, cockpit controls and displays, and procedure development.

 Flying the Shuttle was a rewarding experience after years of being involved in the development.  STS-1, 7, 41C & 41G had me involved in most of the early test flights.  The Challenger accident was a terrible tragedy which provided major lessons learned.  It led me to move into management to return the Shuttle to flight.

 Eventually I left NASA and ended up running the company that was the direct cause of the accident, Thiokol.

 The Space Shuttle was a great program with 135 flights, but with two terrible accidents.  I am proud to have played a role in its development and operation.

Brief Bio: The launch of the first Space Shuttle has been called “the boldest test flight in history”.  Bob Crippen was the pilot of the first Space Shuttle flight in April 1981.  He was the commander of three other Space Shuttle flights.  He has logged more than 565 hours in space and orbited the earth 374 times.

 After graduating from the University of Texas, Bob spent 30 years in the United States Navy.  He was an attack pilot aboard the USS Independence and then became a flight instructor at Edwards Air Force Test Pilot School in California.  He was selected as an Astronaut on a Military Space Program called the Manned Orbiting Laboratory in 1967.  After the cancellation of that program in 1969 he was selected as a NASA astronaut.  He was on the ground support crew for the Skylab 2, 3, and 4 missions, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in the 1970’s.

 Bob became the director of the Space Shuttle program at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. and then the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  He entered the private sector as a vice-president at Lockheed Martin in Orlando and then served as President of the Thiokol Propulsion Company in Utah.

 Captain Crippen has received numerous awards including the Distinguished Flying Cross from the U.S. Navy, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Federal Aviation Administration Award for Distinguished Service, the Collier Trophy the Goddard Memorial Trophy, the National Geographic Society Hubbard Medal, the American Legion Distinguished Service Medal, Leadership and Distinguished Service Medals from NASA.  He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2006 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Space.  Captain Crippen was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in Washington D.C. in 2012.    He and his wife, Pandora, live in Palm Beach Gardens, FL

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                  ~ Robert Crippen, Retired U.S. Navy Captain & Former NASA Astronaut ~