Don Lind
Don Lind | |
---|---|
USNR | |
Time in space | 7d 0h 8m |
Selection | NASA Group 5 (1966) |
Missions | STS-51-B |
Mission insignia | |
Retirement | April 1986 |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Thesis | Differential Distribution of Charge-Exchange and Inelastic Neutrons in Π−-p Interactions at 313 and 371 MeV (1964) |
Don Leslie Lind
Lind was a
Lind was the payload commander on his only flight, STS-51-B, launched April 29, 1985. He designed an experiment to capture the Earth's aurora. The payload experiments consisted primarily of microgravity research and atmospheric measurement. The Orbiter Challenger completed 110 orbits before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
Biography
Early life and education
Lind was born May 18, 1930, and raised in
As a
Lind enrolled at the
NASA career
Pre-astronaut and selection
From 1964 to 1966, Lind worked at the NASA
Lind was selected as a pilot with other "Original Nineteen" astronauts
Apollo
Along with geologist-astronaut
Skylab
Amid the gradual cancellation of the later Apollo missions and the devolution of the AAP into the
[On Skylab 3 and 4,] I was backing up two of the most depressingly healthy people you can imagine.[5]
Lind
Lind served as backup pilot alongside backup commander
Astronauts knew little of why or how they were assigned to missions.[16][17] By the Skylab era, Lind was informally perceived as a "scientist-pilot" because of his doctorate.[18] According to David Shayler, Lind "could never understand why he was not on the [Skylab 4] crew as science pilot" due to his work on the mission's Earth resources package; this could be attributed in part to seniority and specialization, as all of the prime crew science pilots were drawn from Group 4. Additionally, Skylab 4 Science Pilot Edward Gibson (like Lind, an atmospheric physicist) had taken on a research program in solar physics and worked on the Apollo Telescope Mount while Lind was still on track to be assigned to a lunar mission.[8] Although he cross-trained with Lenoir and briefly proposed swapping positions with his crewmate, Lind elected to retain his original assignment due to the greater likelihood of the rescue mission (which could only accommodate the commander and pilot) amid the space program's dwindling flight opportunities.[15]
According to Michael Cassutt, in 1970, Lind "openly complained" to George Abbey (then technical assistant to Johnson Space Center director Robert R. Gilruth) about the perceived administrative machinations of Slayton and Shepard and Harrison Schmitt's assignment to Apollo 17.[19] However, Abbey—a close friend of Schmitt who would eventually oversee Astronaut Corps assignments as director of flight operations from 1976 to 1988—took umbrage at Lind's cooperation with a 1969 report in The Washington Post that exposed rampant dissatisfaction among the scientist-astronauts. He also alleged that Lind complained about "any and all subjects" related to the space program, associating him with a coterie of scientist-astronauts (including Story Musgrave) who perceived Abbey as a "faceless 'horse-holder' who had worked his way into a powerful job." Although Abbey could not forestall Lind's eventual flight, their acrimonious relationship played a key role in hindering the astronaut's progression in the flight rotation.[19]
When the
Shuttle era
For the
Lind finally flew as the lead mission specialist and de facto payload commander on STS-51-B (April 29 to May 6, 1985), logging over 168 hours in space. Due to Apollo-era managerial preferences, his contentious relationship with George Abbey, NASA budgetary problems and delays in the Space Shuttle program, Lind waited longer than any other continuously serving American astronaut for a spaceflight: 19 years.[4][5][22] STS-51-B's average age of 48.6 was the oldest for an American space mission.[16]
With the help of his Alaska postdoctoral group, Lind developed and conducted an experiment to photograph the Earth's aurora. As the experiment used a camera already on the Shuttle, NASA only needed to purchase three rolls of film for $36; Lind described it as "the cheapest experiment that has ever gone into space."[5] After completing 110 orbits of the Earth, the Orbiter Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on May 6, 1985.[1]
Lind retired from NASA on the twentieth anniversary of his selection in 1986. For nine years thereafter, he served as a professor of physics and astronomy at Utah State University, until his retirement in 1995.[4]
Awards and honors
Lind was a member of the
Personal life
Lind married Kathleen Maughan[4] of Logan, Utah, with whom he had seven children.[1] STS-51-B was two decades after son David's stomach aches from fear of appearing on television like the families of other astronauts, such as neighbors James Irwin and Edgar Mitchell. Kathleen said before the mission that "For our family, I think we're better off now without the publicity" as space travel became more common.[16]
Lind served as a member of the lay ecclesiastical hierarchy of
Lind's wife Kathleen died on June 12, 2022.[27] Lind died on August 30, 2022, in Logan, Utah, with many of his children and grandchildren at his bedside. His funeral was planned for September 10 in Smithfield.[28]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Astronaut Bio: Don Lind" (PDF). NASA. January 1987. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
- ^ "Astronauts and the BSA" (PDF). Boy Scouts of America. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 22, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Honor Roll Archived 2011-06-29 at the Wayback Machine" U-News & Views, University of Utah Alumni Association, August 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Moulton, Kristen. "Utah astronaut recalls his role in moon walk Archived 2009-08-21 at the Wayback Machine" Salt Lake Tribune, July 20, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Don L. Lind oral history transcript" (Interview). Interviewed by Wright, Rebecca. NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. May 27, 2005. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
- ^ Leavitt, Melvin (April 1985). "Mission Specialist One". New Era. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p. 28. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-51012-5.
- ^ ISBN 9781852334079. Archivedfrom the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ Thompson, Ronald (April 5, 1966). "19 New Spacemen Are Named". The High Point Enterprise. High Point, North Carolina. p. 2A – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 9781137025296. Archivedfrom the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ISBN 9780387493879. Archivedfrom the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ISBN 9780387493879. Archivedfrom the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ "Lind". Astronautix. Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
- ISBN 9781466802148. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9780387493879. Archivedfrom the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ a b c Kennedy, J. Michael (April 29, 1985). "Shuttle Flight Is Lind's First Mission : Astronaut's 19-Year Wait for Space Trip Ends Today". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
- ^ Freeze, Di (April 1, 2007). "Bill Anders: A Love of Afterburners". Airport Journals. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ISBN 9781441988102. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781613737033.
- ^ "Astronaut makes it to space". The Courier. UPI. April 30, 1985. pp. 6B. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
- ISBN 9781496212252.
- ^ Barbara Morgan was selected as the backup candidate for NASA's Teacher in Space Project in July 1985 and briefly assumed Christa McAuliffe's duties in the aftermath of the Challenger disaster before electing to return to teaching in the fall of 1986. She was then selected as a NASA Astronaut Group 17 Mission Specialist in 1998 and ultimately flew on STS-118 in August 2007. Although twenty-two years elapsed between her initial affiliation with NASA and her spaceflight, she was not continuously employed by the agency.
- ^ "Why Bruce McCandless waited so long to fly – collectSPACE: Messages".
- ^ Don L. Lind at scouting.org Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lind, Don (October 1985). "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God". October 1985 General Conference. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
- ^ "Mormon Scholars Testify / Don L. Lind". FairMormon. January 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
- ^ "Don Lind, shuttle astronaut whose moon mission was canceled, dies at 92". collectSPACE.com. September 2, 2022. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
- ^ Stefanich, Logan (September 3, 2022). "Decorated Utah astronaut Don Lind dies at 92". Deseret News. Retrieved September 4, 2022.