Gerald P. Carr
Gerald Paul Carr was an American mechanical and aeronautical engineer, United States Marine Corps officer, naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was selected in NASA Astronaut Group 5 in 1966 and became of Skylab 4.
- Born
- August 22, 1932
- Died
- August 26, 2020
- Birthplace
- Denver, Colorado,United States
Flights
1
Spacewalks
3
EVA time
15 hours, 51 minutes
In space
84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes
Bio
Carr's background mixed engineering, operational aviation, and Marine Corps leadership. Before NASA, he flew fighters, completed postgraduate aeronautical engineering work, and built the kind of test and operations experience NASA needed for long-duration orbital missions.
During Apollo, Carr served in support and -communicator roles, including work connected to Apollo 8 and Apollo 12. He was also part of the late-Apollo assignment flow before the final lunar missions were canceled.
Carr commanded Skylab 4 from November 1973 to February 1974 with Edward Gibson and William Pogue. The mission lasted 84 days, a record at the time, and pushed the United States much deeper into long-duration crew health, solar astronomy, , and onboard operations.
After NASA, Carr worked in engineering consulting and zero-gravity human factors through CAMUS, Inc., including later work that supported International crew systems. His Skylab command remains one of the central United States milestones in learning how crews live and work in orbit for months.