Robert L. Gibson

Infobox Astronaut
name =Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson


type =NASA Astronaut
status =Retired
nationality =American
date_birth =October 30, 1946
place_birth =Cooperstown, New York
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =Captain, USN
selection =1978 NASA Group
time =36d 04h 15m
mission =STS-41-B, STS-61-C, STS-27, STS-47, STS-71
insignia =|

Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson (born October 30, 1946) is an American naval officer and a retired NASA astronaut.

Personal

Born in Cooperstown, New York, but considers the Lakewood area of east Long Beach, California, to be his hometown. Married to Dr. M. Rhea Seddon of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, another astronaut and has four children. He enjoys home built aircraft, Formula One Air Racing, Unlimited Class Air Racing, running and surfing during his free time. His mother, Mrs. Paul A. Gibson, resides in Seal Beach, California. His father, who is deceased, was an FAA Inspector, and once built his own private plane with help from his family -- in the garage of their home in Long Beach. Family includes brothers, Jon and Don and a sister Kathy.

Education

* 1964: Graduated from Huntington High School, Huntington, New York
* 1966: Received an associate degree in engineering science from Suffolk County Community College
* 1969: Received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from California Polytechnic State University

Awards and honors

* Awarded the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) "Louis Bleriot Medal" (1992)
* Awarded the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) "Freedom of Flight" Award (1989)
* Established world records for "Altitude in Horizontal Flight," Airplane Class C1A in 1991, and "Time to Climb to 9000 Meters" in 1994

Military awards include:
* the Defense Superior Service Medal
* the Distinguished Flying Cross
* 3 Air Medals
* the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V"
* a Navy Unit Commendation
* Meritorious Unit Commendation
* Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
* Humanitarian Service Medal
* Vietnam Campaign Medal

Military career

Gibson entered active duty with the Navy in 1969. He received primary and basic flight training at Naval Air Stations Saufley Field and Pensacola, Florida, and Meridian, Mississippi, and completed advanced flight training at the Naval Air Station at Kingsville, Texas.

While assigned to Fighter Squadrons 111 and 1, during the period April 1972 to September 1975, he saw duty aboard the USS "Coral Sea" (CVA-43) and the USS "Enterprise" (CVN-65) -- flying combat missions in Southeast Asia. He is a graduate of the Navy Fighter Weapons School, "Topgun." Gibson returned to the United States and an assignment as an F-14A instructor pilot with Fighter Squadron 124. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, in June 1977, and later became involved in the test and evaluation of F-14A aircraft while assigned to the Naval Air Test Center's Strike Aircraft Test Directorate.

His flight experience included over 6,000 hours in over 50 types of civil and military aircraft. He holds airline transport pilot, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, and has held a private pilot rating since age 17. Gibson has also completed over 300 carrier landings.

NASA career

Selected by NASA in January 1978, Gibson became an astronaut in August 1979. Gibson flew five missions: STS-41-B in 1984, STS-61-C in 1986, STS-27 in 1988, STS-47 in 1992, and STS-71 in 1995. Gibson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992 to September 1994) and as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996).

On his first space flight Gibson was the pilot on the crew of STS 41-B which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight accomplished the proper Shuttle deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites which failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper stage rocket failures. Rendezvous sensors and computer programs were flight tested for the first time. The STS 41-B mission marked the first checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), and Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR), with Bruce McCandless II and Bob Stewart performing two spectacular EVAs (space walks). The German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), six "Getaway Specials," and materials processing experiments were included on the mission. The eight-day orbital flight of Challenger culminated in the first landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984, and Gibson logged 191 hours in space.

Gibson was the spacecraft commander of the STS-61-C mission. The seven-man crew on board the Orbiter "Columbia" launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. During the six-day flight the crew deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission concluded with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986, and logged him an additional 146 hours in space.

Gibson subsequently participated in the investigation of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" accident, and also participated in the redesign and recertification of the solid rocket boosters.

As the spacecraft commander of STS-27, Gibson and his five-man crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988, aboard the Orbiter "Atlantis". The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, and a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours.

On Gibson's fourth space flight, the 50th Space Shuttle mission, he served as spacecraft commander of STS-47, Spacelab-J, which launched on September 12, 1992 aboard the Orbiter "Endeavour". The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut as a member of the seven-person crew. During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter "Endeavour". The mission ended with a successful landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 126 orbits of the Earth on September 20, 1992.

On his last flight, (June 27 to July 7, 1995), Gibson commanded a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The "Atlantis" Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.

In five space flights, Gibson completed a total of 36.5 days in space.

Post-NASA career

Gibson left NASA in November 1996 and became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. In 2006, as reported by NASA Watch, Gibson was forced to retire as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial airline pilots. Gibson has publicly spoken out against federal regulations which require airline pilots to retire at age 60. [ [http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou061027_gj_pilotsretire60.7e3e4603.html TOP STORIES | KHOU.com | News for Houston, Texas ] ] In December 2006, he joined the Benson Space Company as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Test Pilot. [http://www.bensonspace.com/press/release12-14-06.html]

Hoot competed at the 2007 Reno Air Races.

On October 3, 2008 he made on an appearance on Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, he became the first contestant to make it to the million question without using any of his cheats. He answered incorrectly to "How many factors do 32 and 28 share?” The correct answer is 3; 1, 2, and 4. He answered 2. All of his prize money ($25,000) went to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

External links

* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/gibson.html NASA biographical information]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/gibson_robert.htm Spacefacts biography of Robert L. Gibson]
* [http://www.bensonspace.com/ Benson Space Company]

References

s-ttl|title=Chief of the Astronaut Office
years=1992–1994