Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton
Astronaut and Director of Flight Crew Operations

Date of Birth: March 1, 1924
Place of Birth: Sparta, WI
Died: June 13, 1993
Cause of Death: Brain Tumor
Joined NASA: April 2, 1959
Left NASA: February 27, 1982
Space Flights: 1
Time in Space: 9 days, 1 hour, 28 minutes
MISSION ASSIGNMENTS
Mercury-Redstone 3
Assignment: Capcom (Cape)

Mercury-Atlas 6
Assignment: Back-up Pilot

Mercury-Atlas 7
Assignment: Pilot (Grounded)

Mercury-Atlas 7
Assignment: Capcom (Muchea, Australia)

Mercury-Atlas 8
Assignment: Capcom (Cape)

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
July 15-24, 1975
Assignment: Docking Module Pilot
Flight Duration: 9 days, 1 hour, 28 minutes

HIGHLIGHTS

  • B.Sc., Aeronautical Engineering, Univ. of Minnesota, 1949

  • Enlisted in the USAF after Pearl Harbor and received his wings after flight training in Vernon and Waco, Texas

  • Flew 56 combat missions in Europe and 7 over Japan as a B-25 bomber pilot.

  • Served as a B-25 flight instructor until leaving the USAF to enter university.

  • 1949-1951, worked as an engineer with the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.

  • 1951, recalled to active duty with the Minnesota Air National Guard.

  • 1955, entered the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California.

  • 1956-1959, served as a test pilot at Edwards until selection by NASA.

  • 1962, grounded by NASA flight surgeons due to an irregular heartbeat diagnosed as idiopathic atrial fibrillation. Named co-ordinator of Astronaut Activities.

  • 1963, resigned USAF commission in November to become Director of Flight Crew Operations at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas.

  • 1972, restored to active flight status.

  • 1975, Flew his first(and only) space flight as the Docking Module Pilot on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 16 years after selection as an astronaut.

  • 1975-1977, Manager, Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Program.

  • 1977-1982, Manager, Space Shuttle Orbital Test Flight Program.

  • 1982, Retired from NASA in February(after the second Space Shuttle flight) to become President of Space Services Inc., Houston, Texas.

  • Deke Slayton died from complications of a brain tumor in League City, Texas, on June 13, 1993.