Steven R. Nagel

Steven Nagel
Steven Nagel
	NASA astronaut
Rank	Colonel, USAF
Time in space	30d 1h 34m
Selection	NASA Group 8 (1978)
Missions	STS-51-G; STS-61-A; STS-37; STS-55
Mission insignia
Retirement	February 28, 1995

Steven Ray Nagel (October 27, 1946 – August 21, 2014), (

pilot.^[1] In total, he logged 723 hours in space.^[2] After NASA, he worked at the University of Missouri College of Engineering as an instructor in its Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.^[3]

Personal data

Nagel was born on October 27, 1946, in Canton, Illinois. He was married to fellow astronaut Linda M. Godwin of Jackson, Missouri. They had two daughters. His hobbies included sport flying, amateur radio operations and music. His wife's father, James M. Godwin, resides in Oak Ridge, Missouri.

Education

Nagel graduated from Canton High School,

University of Illinois in 1969, and a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering from California State University, Fresno, in 1978.^[1]

Flight experience

Nagel received his commission in 1969 through the

A-7D

instructor pilot and flight examiner duties at England Air Force Base, Louisiana.

Nagel attended the

A-7D

.

He logged 12,600 hours flying time—9,640 hours in jet aircraft.^[4]^[5]

NASA career

Nagel became a NASA astronaut in August 1979.

Houston, Texas. In September 1996, Nagel transferred to Aircraft Operations Division where he performed duties as a Research Pilot. Nagel was a veteran of four space flights (STS-51-G and STS-61-A in 1985, STS-37 in 1991, and STS-55

in 1993) as described below:

Spaceflight experience

Nagel first flew as a

SPARTAN satellite which performed 17 hours of x-ray astronomy experiments while separated from the Space Shuttle. In addition, the crew activated the Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), six "Getaway Specials," participated in biomedical experiments, and conducted a laser tracking experiment as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative. After completing approximately 170 hours of space flight, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California

, on June 24, 1985.

Nagel then flew as pilot on STS-61A, the West German D-1 Spacelab mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 30, 1985. This mission was the first in which payload activities were controlled from outside the United States. More than 75 scientific experiments were completed in the areas of

materials processing, biology, and navigation. After completing 111 orbits of the Earth, Shuttle Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California

on November 6, 1985.

On his third flight, Nagel was commander of STS-37, which launched into orbit on April 5, 1991, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and landed on April 11, 1991, at

space walk

in more than five and one-half years, and the first successful unscheduled spacewalk to free a stuck antenna on the satellite.

Nagel also served as commander of STS-55, the German D-2 Spacelab mission. After launching on April 26, 1993, on the

life sciences, robotics, technology, astronomy

and earth mapping.

In total, he logged 723 hours in space.[2]

Post-NASA career

In 2011, Nagel and his wife Linda moved to Columbia, Missouri, where they both were teaching at the University of Missouri. Nagel was a retention specialist in the College of Engineering and instructor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, specializing in aerospace propulsion; Godwin was a professor in the physics department, specializing in astronomy.

Specifically he worked at the University of Missouri College of Engineering. There he served as an instructor in the university's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.^[3]