Dale Gardner

Dale Gardner
Dale Gardner
	NASA astronaut
Rank	Captain, USN
Time in space	14d 0h 52m
Selection	NASA Group 8 (1978)
Total EVAs	2
Total EVA time	12h 14m
Missions	STS-8; STS-51-A
Mission insignia
Retirement	October 1986

Dale Allan Gardner (November 8, 1948 – February 19, 2014) was a NASA astronaut, and naval flight officer who flew two Space Shuttle missions during the mid 1980s.

Personal information

Born on November 8, 1948, in

golfing, tennis, woodworking and photography

.

Education

Gardner graduated as

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

in 1970.

Military experience

Upon graduation from the

NAS Point Mugu

, California, involved in the operational test and evaluation of Navy fighter aircraft.

Gardner was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, reporting to the Johnson Space Center in July 1978. In August 1979 he completed a one-year training and evaluation period, making him eligible for assignment as a Mission Specialist Astronaut. He subsequently served as the Astronaut Project Manager for the flight software in the Space Shuttle onboard computers leading up to the first flight in April 1981. He then served as a Support Crew Astronaut for the fourth flight (STS-4). He flew as a mission specialist on STS-8 (August 30 to September 5, 1983) and STS-51-A (November 8–16, 1984). Gardner logged a total of 337 hours in space and 225 orbits of the Earth on these two flights.

He logged more than 2,300 hours flying time in over 20 different types of aircraft and spacecraft. Prior to the

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

. That flight and the Vandenberg launch capability itself were canceled after the accident.

In October 1986, following 8½ years with NASA, Gardner returned to his

Northrup Grumman's operations in Colorado Springs.^[1] Gardner became the Associate Director for Renewable Fuels Science and Technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

in 2003, and retired in January 2013.

Space flight experience

Richard Truly (Spacecraft Commander), Daniel Brandenstein (Pilot), and fellow Mission Specialists Guion Bluford and William Thornton. This was the third flight of the Orbiter Challenger and the first night launch and landing mission of the Shuttle program. During the flight, the crew of STS-8 deployed the Indian National Satellite (INSAT-1B), operated and tested the Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robot arm, and performed numerous earth resources and space science experiments. STS-8 completed 98 Earth orbits in 145 hours before landing at Edwards Air Force Base

, California on September 5, 1983.

Palapa B-2 and the Western Union Westar VI communication satellites. Gardner and Allen completed two spacewalks totaling 12 hours and flew the Manned Maneuvering Unit

(MMU) backpack during the salvage operation. STS-51-A completed 127 orbits of the Earth before landing at the Kennedy Space Center on November 16, 1984.