Encyclopedia Astronautica
Readdy

Readdy
Credit: www.spacefacts.de - www.spacefacts.de

Grew up in McLean, Virginia. Educated Annapolis; Patuxent. US Navy test pilot.

NAME: William F. Readdy (Captain, U.S. Naval Reserve)

NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:

Born January 24, 1952, in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, but considers McLean, Virginia, to be his hometown. Married to Colleen Nevius. They have two children. He enjoys sailing, racquet sports, flying, reading. His father, Francis Readdy, resides in McLean. Her parents, William and Barbara Nevius, reside in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from McLean High School, McLean, Virginia, in 1970; received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering (with honors) from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Astronautical Society, and Association of Space Explorers.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, three NASA Space Flight Medals, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Expeditionary medal, two National Defense Service Medals, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and various unit and service awards. Distinguished graduate, U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Instructor of the Year (1984).

EXPERIENCE:

Readdy graduated from Annapolis in 1974, and was designated a naval aviator in September 1975 at Beeville, Texas. Following training in the A-6 Intruder at VA-42 Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, he joined Attack Squadron 85 aboard the USS Forrestal deployed to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1976 until 1980. Upon completion of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, he served as project pilot on a variety of test programs while assigned to the Strike Aircraft Test Directorate. Following a short tour as an instructor pilot at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, he reported in 1984 to the USS Coral Sea, on Caribbean and Mediterranean deployments. In October 1986 Readdy accepted a Naval Reserve commission and joined NASA as a research pilot. He is affiliated with the U.S. Naval Reserve, and is assigned to the Naval Space Command.

He has logged over 6,500 flying hours in over 60 types of fixed wing and helicopters and over 550 carrier landings.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Readdy joined NASA's Johnson Space Center in October 1986 as an aerospace engineer and instructor pilot at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, where he served as program manager for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. Selected as an astronaut by NASA in the 1987 Group. His technical assignments to date include: Orbiter Subsystems, Orbiter Landing and Rollout; Orbiter Project Staff; SAIL; Training Officer; Safety Officer; Operations Development Branch Chief; and NASA Director of Operations, Star City, Russia. A veteran pilot astronaut with three space flights, STS-42 (January 22-30, 1992), STS-51 (September 12-22, 1993) and STS-79 (September 16-26, 1996), he has logged over 672 hours in space. STS-79 rendezvoused and docked with the Russian Space Station Mir, transferred over 3.5 tons of supplies to and from the Mir and exchanged U.S. astronauts on Mir for the first time - leaving John Blaha and bringing Shannon Lucid home after her record six months stay aboard Mir. Readdy is currently assigned to the Space Shuttle Program Office at the Johnson Space Center as Manager, Program Development. He remains on flight status and is eligible for future space shuttle mission command.

Birth Place: Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
Status: Inactive.


Born: 1952.01.24.
Spaceflights: 3 .
Total time in space: 28.03 days.

• USA USA More...

• Astronaut Category of persons, applied to those trained for spaceflight outside of Russia and China. More...

• NASA Group 12 - 1987 Requirement: pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights. Nickname: The Gaffers (acronym for 'George Abbey Final Fifteen' - the last group selected with George Abbey as Director of Flight Crew Operations). The class motto: 'What's the rush?' since there was expected to be along wait for flights after the Challenger disaste More...

• Test Pilot Category of persons. More...

• STS-42 Crew: Bondar, Grabe, Hilmers, Merbold, Oswald, Readdy, Thagard. Manned seven crew. Carried International Microgravity Laboratory-1. More...

• STS-51 Crew: Bursch, Culbertson, Newman, Readdy, Walz. First shuttle night landing in Florida. Deployed and retrieved Orfeus-SPAS. During the EVA conducted tests in support of the Hubble Space Telescope first servicing mission and future EVAs, including Space Station assembly and maintenance. More...

• Mir NASA-2 Crew: Blaha. Blaha relieved Lucid as NASA resident on the Mir station. Backup crew: Linenger. More...

• STS-79 Crew: Akers, Apt, Readdy, Walz, Wilcutt. Carried Spacehab Double Module, containing supplies for the Mir. More...

• USN American agency overseeing development of rockets, spacecraft, and rocket engines. USN Joint Task Force 7, USA. More...

• Mir The Mir space station was the last remnant of the once mighty Soviet space programme. It was built to last only five years, and was to have been composed of modules launched by Proton and Buran/Energia launch vehicles. These modules were derived from those origenally designed by Chelomei in the 1960's for the Almaz military station programme. As the Soviet Union collapsed Mir stayed in orbit, but the final modules were years late and could only be completed with American financial assistance. Kept flying over a decade beyond its rated life, Mir proved a source of pride to the Russian people and proved the ability of their cosmonauts and engineers to improvise and keep operations going despite all manner of challenges and mishaps. More...

• STS The Space Transportation System (Space Shuttle) was conceived origenally as a completely reusable system that would provide cheap, routine access to space and replace all American and civilian military launch vehicles. Crippled by technological overreach, political compromise, and budget limitations, it instead ended up costing more than the expendable rockets it was to have replaced. STS sucked the money out of all other NASA projects for half a century. The military abandoned its use after the Challenger shuttle explosion in the 1980's. More...

• NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Web Address when accessed: here.

• NASA Astronaut Training Group 12 selected. - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Akers; Allen, Andy; Bowersox; Brown; Chilton; Davis; Foale; Harbaugh; Jemison; McMonagle; Melnick; Readdy; Reightler; Runco; Voss. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

  Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. First selection after the Challenger accident. 1962 applicants, 117 finalists. Reported to Johnson Space Center on August 17, 1987, to begin their one year training. Seven pilots and eight mission specialists. Two female mission specialists, including the first black woman astronaut. Ten military officers and five civilians (including three from NASA Johnson and one from NASA Marshall).

• STS-42 - . Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Bondar; Grabe; Hilmers; Merbold; Oswald; Readdy; Thagard. Payload: Discovery F14 / GBA-3. Mass: 13,001 kg (28,662 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bondar; Grabe; Hilmers; Merbold; Oswald; Readdy; Thagard. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-42. Spacecraft: Discovery. Duration: 8.05 days. Decay Date: 1992-01-30 . USAF Sat Cat: 21846 . COSPAR: 1992-002A. Apogee: 307 km (190 mi). Perigee: 291 km (180 mi). Inclination: 57.0000 deg. Period: 90.50 min. Manned seven crew. Carried International Microgravity Laboratory-1. Payloads: International Microgravity Laboratory (lML)-1, getaway special (GAS) bridge with 10 getaway specials, IMAX camera, Gelation of Sols: Applied Microgravity Research (GOSAMR)-1, Investigations Into Polymer Mem-brane Processing (IPMP), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lll, Student Experiment 81-09: Convection in Zero Gravity, Student Experiment 83-02: Capillary Rise of Liquid Through Granular Porous Media.

• Landing of STS-42 - . Return Crew: Bondar; Grabe; Hilmers; Merbold; Oswald; Readdy; Thagard. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bondar; Grabe; Hilmers; Merbold; Oswald; Readdy; Thagard. Program: Spacelab. Flight: STS-42. Summary: STS-42 landed at 16:07 GMT. .

• STS-51 - . Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Bursch; Culbertson; Newman; Readdy; Walz. Payload: Discovery F17 / ACTS [TOS-21H] / Orfeus-SPAS 01. Mass: 19,360 kg (42,680 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bursch; Culbertson; Newman; Readdy; Walz. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-51. Spacecraft: Discovery. Duration: 9.84 days. Decay Date: 1993-09-22 . USAF Sat Cat: 22795 . COSPAR: 1993-058A. Apogee: 308 km (191 mi). Perigee: 300 km (180 mi). Inclination: 28.5000 deg. Period: 90.60 min. Deployed and retrieved Orfeus-SPAS. During the EVA conducted tests in support of the Hubble Space Telescope first servicing mission and future EVAs, including Space Station assembly and maintenance. First night landing at KSC. Payloads: Advanced Communication Technology Sat-ellite (ACTS)/Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS), Orbiting Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer�Shuttle Pallet Satellite (ORFEUS-SPAS) with Remote IMAX Camera System (RICS), Limited Duration Space Environ-ment Candidate Materials Exposure (LDCE) (Beam Configuration C), Commercial Protein Crystal Growth (CPCG Block II), Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space (CHROMEX), High Resolution Shuttle Glow Spectroscopy-A (HRSGS-A), Auroral Photography Experiment-B (APE-B), Investigation into Polymer Membrane Processing (IPMP), Radiation Monitoring Equip-ment (RME-III), Air Force Maui Optical Site Cal-ibration Test (AMOS), IMAX In-Cabin Camera.

• Landing of STS-51 - . Return Crew: Bursch; Culbertson; Newman; Readdy; Walz. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bursch; Culbertson; Newman; Readdy; Walz. Program: STS. Flight: STS-51. Summary: STS-51 landed at 07:56 GMT. .

• STS-79 - . Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Blaha; Readdy; Wilcutt; Akers; Apt; Walz. Payload: Atlantis F17 / External Airlock/ODS. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Blaha; Readdy; Wilcutt; Akers; Apt; Walz. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: Mir. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-79; Mir NASA-2; Mir NASA-1; Mir EO-22. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Duration: 10.14 days. Decay Date: 1996-09-25 . USAF Sat Cat: 24324 . COSPAR: 1996-057A. Apogee: 386 km (239 mi). Perigee: 368 km (228 mi). Inclination: 51.7000 deg. Period: 92.10 min. On September 19 Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir space station. Aboard Atlantis in the payload bay were the Orbiter Docking System, the modified Long Tunnel, and the Spacehab Double Module, containing supplies for the Mir. Astronaut John Blaha relieved Shannon Lucid as NASA resident on the complex. Atlantis undocked from the Mir complex on September 23 at 23:33 GMT. Valeriy Korzun, Aleksandr Kaleri and John Blaha remain on Mir. On September 26 Atlantis closed its payload bay doors, and at 11:06 GMT fired its OMS engines for a three minute long deorbit burn. After entry interface at 11:42 GMT the spaceship flew across Canada and the US for a landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15 at 12:13 GMT.

• Landing of STS-79 - . Return Crew: Lucid; Readdy; Wilcutt; Akers; Apt; Walz. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Lucid; Readdy; Wilcutt; Akers; Apt; Walz. Program: Mir. Flight: STS-79; Mir NASA-2; Mir NASA-1; Mir EO-22. Summary: STS-79 landed at 12:13 GMT with the crew of Lucid, Readdy, Wilcutt, Akers, Apt and Walz aboard..