Stanley David Griggs
Stanley David Griggs was an American naval aviator, engineer, NASA research pilot, and astronaut. Selected with NASA Astronaut Group 8 in 1978, he flew one shuttle mission and became associated with one of the shuttle program's most improvised early .
- Born
- September 7, 1939
- Died
- June 17, 1989
- Birthplace
- Portland, Oregon,United States
Flights
1
Spacewalks
1
EVA time
3 hours, 6 minutes
In space
6 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes
Bio
Griggs graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as a Navy pilot before joining NASA as a research pilot. Before becoming an astronaut, he worked with flight-test and aircraft operations that supported NASA's broader aeronautics and spaceflight programs.
His spaceflight was STS-51-D aboard Discovery in 1985. During that mission, a satellite deployment problem led Griggs and Jeffrey Hoffman to perform the first unscheduled EVA of the Space Shuttle program, attempting to improvise a capture aid for the stranded Syncom IV-3 satellite.
Griggs was later assigned to future shuttle work, but he died in a 1989 aircraft accident while flying a vintage training aircraft. His career is a reminder that astronaut risk extended beyond launch day into the training and aviation culture around the corps.