Scott Altman

Infobox Astronaut
name =Scott Altman

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type = Astronaut
nationality =American
date_birth =August 15, 1959
date_death =
place_birth =Lincoln, Illinois
place_death =
occupation =Fighter pilot
rank =Captain, USN
selection =1994 NASA Group
time =38d 15h 12m
mission =STS-90, STS-106, STS-109, STS-125
insignia =
Captain Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman, United States Navy, (born 15 August 1959) is a NASA astronaut and veteran of three space shuttle missions. He will perform his fourth space shuttle mission on STS-125, the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Education

*1977: Graduated from Pekin Community High School, Pekin, Illinois
*1981: Received bachelor of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity
*1990: Received master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School

Organizations

* University of Illinois Alumni Association
* Sigma Chi Alumni Association
* life member Association of Naval Aviation
* Military Order of the World Wars.

pecial honors

*Defense Superior Service Medal
*Defense Meritorious Service Medal
*Navy Strike/Flight Air Medal
*Navy Commendation Medal
*Navy Achievement Medal
* 1987 Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Tactical Aviation as selected by the Association of Naval Aviation.

Experience

Commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in August 1981, received his Navy wings of gold in February 1983. As a member of Fighter Squadron 51 at Naval Air Station Miramar, Altman completed two deployments to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean flying the F-14A Tomcat. In August 1987, he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School-Test Pilot School Coop program and graduated with Test Pilot School Class 97 in June 1990 as a Distinguished Graduate. After graduation, he spent the next two years as a test pilot working on various F-14 projects. Altman then took the new F-14D on its first operational deployment with VF-31 Tomcatters where he served as maintenance officer and later operations officer. He was awarded the Navy Air Medal for his role as a strike leader flying over Southern Iraq in support of Operation Southern Watch. Shortly following his return from this six month deployment, he was selected for the astronaut program. He has logged over 4000 flight hours in more than 40 types of aircraft.

He also performed many of the aerial stunts in the movie "Top Gun".

NASA experience

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994, Altman reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. He completed a year of training and was initially assigned to work technical aspects of orbiter landing and roll out issues for the Astronaut Office Vehicle Systems Branch. He was the pilot on STS-90 (1998) and STS-106 (2000), and was the mission commander on STS-109 (2002). A veteran of three space flights, Altman has logged over 38 days in space. He is currently assigned as Shuttle Branch chief for the Astronaut Office and as lead for the Cockpit Avionics Upgrade.

pace flight experience

STS-90 Neurolab (April 17 to May 3, 1998). During the 16-day Spacelab flight the seven person crew aboard Space Shuttle "Columbia" served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system.

STS-106 "Atlantis" (September 8-20, 2000). During the 12-day mission, the crew successfully prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. Additionally, he handflew two complete flyarounds of the station after undocking.

STS-109 "Columbia" (March 1-12, 2002). STS-109 was the fourth Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission. The STS-109 crew successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit, a new camera and new solar arrays. HST servicing and upgrade was accomplished by four crewmembers during a total of 5 EVAs in 5 consecutive days. The space walkers were assisted by crewmates inside Space Shuttle "Columbia". STS-109 orbited the Earth 165 times, and covered 3.9 million miles in over 262 hours, culminating in a night landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

He is scheduled to be the Mission Commander of STS-125, the final Hubble servicing mission by the Space Shuttle.

Personal data

Born in Lincoln, Illinois, Douglas is married to the former Jill Shannon Loomer of Tucson, Arizona. They have three children, the second oldest of whom, Alex, attends Rice University in Houston, Texas. Hometown is Pekin, Illinois, where his parents, Fred and Sharon Altman, currently reside. His call sign is "Scooter".

Top Gun

In a NASA interview prior to his 2000 spaceflight, Scott Altman commented on his role as an F-14 pilot involved in the filming of =Top Gun=: "Well, Top Gun was a real thrill. I still remember that so vividly. The word was going around town that Hollywood was coming to Miramar, where I was stationed, and they were going to do a movie, and we were all kind of excited. My squadron had just gotten back from a seven-and-a-half month cruise about a week-and-a-half before, so our airplanes were at home, we were available, we weren't too highly tasked. And it turned out they picked my squadron to supply the F-14s.

Then the skipper got together and tried to pick four guys that he thought, were mature enough, I guess, to handle, you know, the capability that they were being given in working with the movie, and all the things that were required. And the director wanted to have a small cadre of people that he could work with so you develop an understanding of what the movie folks want versus what we can do and how to try and balance those two requirements.

The flying was incredible. You know, most Navy pilots don't get to buzz the tower like in the movie - if you did you could just peel your wings off and, throw 'em at the door because you probably wouldn't be flying anymore - but, since it was Hollywood, you know, they wanted the scene. I had to buzz the tower. And, of course, they wanted nine different takes - so we did it nine times!" http://www.tcghs.org/photo1200.htm

ee also

References

* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/altman.html NASA Scott D. Altman biography]

External links

* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/altman_scott.htm Spacefacts biography of Scott Altman]
*imdb name|name=Scott Altman|id=0022931