We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon
in this decade and do the other things, not because they are
easy, but because they are hard.
John F. Kennedy
Sept. 12, 1962
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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
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B.Sc., Aeronautical Engineering, Univ. of Minnesota, 1949
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Enlisted in the USAF after Pearl Harbor and received his wings after flight training in Vernon and Waco, Texas
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Flew 56 combat missions in Europe and 7 over Japan as a B-25 bomber pilot.
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Served as a B-25 flight instructor until leaving the USAF to enter university.
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1949-1951, worked as an engineer with the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle.
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1951, recalled to active duty with the Minnesota Air National Guard.
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1955, entered the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California.
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1956-1959, served as a test pilot at Edwards until selection by NASA.
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1962, grounded by NASA flight surgeons due to an irregular heartbeat diagnosed as idiopathic atrial fibrillation. Named co-ordinator of Astronaut Activities.
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1963, resigned USAF commission in November to become Director of Flight Crew Operations at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas.
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1972, restored to active flight status.
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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.
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1975-1977, Manager, Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Program.
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1977-1982, Manager, Space Shuttle Orbital Test Flight Program.
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1982, Retired from NASA in February(after the second Space Shuttle flight) to become President of Space Services Inc., Houston, Texas.
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Deke Slayton died from complications of a brain tumor in League City, Texas, on June 13, 1993.
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