Henry W. Hartsfield Jr.
Henry Warren Hartsfield Jr. was an American Air Force officer, test pilot, MOL astronaut, NASA astronaut, and shuttle . Selected for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in 1966, he transferred to NASA after MOL ended and became part of the first generation of shuttle crews.
- Born
- November 21, 1933
- Died
- July 17, 2014
- Birthplace
- Birmingham, Alabama,United States
Flights
3
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
20 days, 2 hours, 50 minutes
Bio
Before orbital flight, Hartsfield served as backup pilot for STS-2 and STS-3, keeping him close to the early test-flight program while Columbia was still proving the reusable spacecraft concept.
He flew as pilot of STS-4 in 1982 with Ken Mattingly. STS-4 was the final orbital flight-test mission for Columbia and helped clear the Space Shuttle for operational missions.
Hartsfield later commanded STS-41-D, the first flight of Discovery, and STS-61-A, the German Spacelab D1 mission. Those flights moved him from shuttle test pilot to commander of increasingly complex operational and international missions.
After flight status, Hartsfield worked in NASA management, including space-station program work. His career shows the transition from military spaceplane planning through shuttle flight testing and into operational shuttle and space-station management.