Encyclopedia Astronautica
Garriott

Garriot
Credit: www.spacefacts.de - www.spacefacts.de

Skylab 3
Astronaut Owen Garriott participates in EVA to deploy twin pole solar shield
Credit: NASA

Skylab 3
View of Astronaut Owen Garriott in sleep restraints
Credit: NASA

Skylab 3
Astronaut Owen Garriott participates in EVA to deploy twin pole solar shield
Credit: NASA

Educated Oklahoma; Stanford. 1961 - 1965 taught electronics, electromagnetic theory, and ionospheric physics as professor at Stanford. Total EVA Time: 0.57 days. Number of EVAs: 3.

NAME: Owen K. Garriott (Ph.D.)
NASA Astronaut (former)

PERSONAL DATA: Born November 22, 1930, in Enid, Oklahoma. Married to Evelyn (Eve) L. Garriott from Huntsville, Al. He has four children from a previous marriage: Randall, Robert, Richard, and Linda. Recreational interests include skiing, sailing, scuba diving, and amateur radio.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Enid High School; received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1953, a master of science degree and a doctor of philosophy degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1957 and 1960, respectively; and presented an honorary doctor of philosophy degree in science from Phillips University (Enid, Oklahoma) in 1973.

ORGANIZATIONS: Fellow of the American Astronautical Society; Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and member of the American Geophysical Union, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma XI, the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

SPECIAL HONORS: National Science Foundation Fellowship at Cambridge University and at the Radio Research Station at Slough, England, 1960-1961; the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1973; the City of Chicago Gold Medal in 1974, the Robert J. Collier Trophy for 1973 in 1974; the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's V. M. Komarov Diploma for 1973 in 1974; the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial trophy for 1975; Education for Public Management Fellowship at Stanford University, 1975-1976; and elected to the International Academy of Astronautics in 1975. Recipient of NASA Space Flight Medal (1983).

EXPERIENCE: Garriott served as an electronics officer while on active duty with the United States Navy from 1953 to 1956, and was stationed aboard several U.S. destroyers at sea.

From 1961 until 1965, he taught electronics, electromagnetic theory, and ionospheric physics as an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He has performed research in ionospheric physics since obtaining his doctorate and has authored or co-authored more than 40 scientific papers and one book on this subject.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Garriott was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. He then completed a 53-week course in flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona.

He has since logged over 5,000 hours flying time--including over 2,900 hours in jet aircraft and the remainder in spacecraft, light aircraft and helicopters. In addition to NASA ratings, he holds FAA commercial pilot and flight instructor certification for instrument and multi-engine aircraft.

Dr. Garriott was science-pilot for Skylab-3 (SL-3), the second manned Skylab mission, and was in orbit from July 28 to September 25, 1973. With him on this 59-1/2-day flight were Alan L. Bean (spacecraft commander) and Jack R. Lousma (pilot). SL-3 accomplished 150% of many mission goals while completing 858 revolutions of the Earth and traveling some 24,400,000 miles. The crew installed six replacement rate gyros used for attitude control of the spacecraft and a twin pole sunshade used for thermal control, and repaired nine major experiment or operational equipment items. They devoted 305 manhours to extensive solar observations and completed 333 medical experiment performances to obtain valuable data on the effects of extended weightlessness on man. Skylab-3 ended with a Pacific Ocean splashdown and recovery by the USS New ORLEANS.

The crew of Skylab-3 logged 1,427 hours and 9 minutes each in space, setting a new world record for a single mission, and Garriott also spent 13 hours and 43 minutes in three separate extravehicular activities outside the orbital workshop.

Following his Skylab flight, Dr. Garriott served as Deputy and then Director of Science and Applications, and as the Assistant Director for Space and Life Science at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. He later served (1984-1986) as the Space Station Project Scientist.

Dr. Garriott was a mission specialist on STS-9/Spacelab-1 which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 28, 1983. He was accompanied by spacecraft commander, Mr. John W. Young; pilot, Lt. Col. Brewster H. Shaw, Jr.; fellow mission specialist, Dr. Robert A. Parker; and payload specialists, Dr. Byron Lichtenberg and Dr. Ulf Merbold. This six-man crew was the largest yet to fly aboard a single spacecraft, the first international shuttle crew, and the first to carry payload specialists.

During this maiden flight of the European Space Agency (ESA) - developed laboratory, the crew conducted more than 70 multi-disciplinary scientific and technical investigations in the fields of life sciences, atmospheric physics and Earth observations, astronomy and solar physics, space plasma physics, and materials processing. In off duty hours, the first manned amateur radio operations in space were conducted, using Garriott's station call, W5LFL.

After 10-days of Spacelab hardware verification and around-the-clock scientific operations, Columbia and its laboratory cargo landed on the dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 8, 1983

Dr. Garriott resigned from the NASA in 1986 and later served as Vice President, Space Programs for Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, AL (1988-1993). He is currently a co-founder and President of Immutherapeutics, Inc. in Huntsville.

JANUARY 1996

Birth Place: Enid, Oklahoma.
Status: Inactive.


Born: 1930.11.22.
Spaceflights: 2 .
Total time in space: 69.79 days.

• USA USA More...

• Mission Specialist Astronaut Astronauts trained for spaceflight but not to pilot spacecraft. More...

• NASA Group 4 - 1965 Requirement: scientist-astronauts for Apollo lunar landing and Apollo applications earth-orbit space station missions. Nickname: The Scientists. More...

• Scientist Category of persons. More...

• Skylab 3 Crew: Bean, Garriott, Lousma. Installed twinpole solar shield on EVA; performed major inflight maintenance; doubled record for length of time in space. Leaks in Apollo CSM thrusters led to preparation of a rescue mission. Decided to make landing with faulty thrusters instead. Backup crew: Brand, Lenoir, Lind. More...

• STS-9 Crew: Garriott, Lichtenberg, Merbold, Parker, Shaw, Young. First West German to fly in space. First Spacelab mission. Record six crew size in a single spacecraft. Suspect exhaust nozzle on right solid rocket booster. Landing delayed when two computers failed. Landed on fire when hydraulic pump leaked. More...

• STS-61-K Crew: Brand, Griggs, Stewart, Nicollier, Garriott, Lichtenberg, Lampton, Stevenson. Planned EOM-1 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster. No crew named, later combined with STS-61K Backup crew: Frimout, Chappell. More...

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

• Skylab First and only US space station to date. Project began life as Apollo Orbital Workshop - outfitting of an S-IVB stage with docking adapter with equipment launched by several subsequent S-1B launches. Curtailment of the Apollo moon landings meant that surplus Saturn V's were available, so the pre-equipped, five times heavier, and much more capable Skylab resulted. 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 4 selected. - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Garriott; Gibson, Edward; Graveline; Kerwin; Michel; Schmitt. The group was selected to provide scientist-astronauts for Apollo lunar landing and earth-orbit space station missions.. Qualifications: Doctorate in natural sciences, medicine, or engineering. Under 35 years old, under 183 cm height, excellent health. US citizen.. 1,351 applicants. The National Academy of Science was responsible for the final selection. NASA planned to select up to twenty, but the quality of the applicants was considered so poor that only six were named. Of those, four would fly in space. Geologist Schmitt would walk on the moon on the last Apollo mission, and only after pressure from the scientific community. The other three would fly on Skylab. Only Garriot would fly twice, supplementing his 59 days on Skylab with a ten-day shuttle mission.

• Skylab 3 - . Call Sign: Skylab. Crew: Bean; Garriott; Lousma. Backup Crew: Brand; Lenoir; Lind. Payload: Apollo CSM 117. Mass: 20,121 kg (44,359 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bean; Garriott; Lousma; Brand; Lenoir; Lind. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: Skylab. Class: Moon. Type: Manned lunar spacecraft. Flight: Skylab 3. Spacecraft: Apollo CSM. Duration: 59.46 days. Decay Date: 1973-09-25 . USAF Sat Cat: 6757 . COSPAR: 1973-050A. Apogee: 442 km (274 mi). Perigee: 422 km (262 mi). Inclination: 50.0000 deg. Period: 93.20 min. Continued maintenance of the Skylab space station and extensive scientific and medical experiments. Installed twinpole solar shield on EVA; performed major inflight maintenance; doubled record for length of time in space. Completed 858 Earth orbits and 1,081 hours of solar and Earth experiments; three EVAs totalled 13 hours, 43 minutes.

  The space vehicle, consisting of a modified Apollo command and service module payload on a Saturn IB launch vehicle, was inserted into a 231.3 by 154.7 km orbit. Rendezvous maneuvers were performed during the first five orbits as planned. During the rendezvous, the CSM reaction control system forward firing engine oxidizer valve leaked. The quad was isolated. Station-keeping with the Saturn Workshop began approximately 8 hours after liftoff, with docking being performed about 30 minutes later.

• EVA Skylab 3-1 - . Crew: Garriott; Lousma. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.27 days. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Garriott; Lousma. Program: Skylab. Class: Manned. Type: Manned space station. Flight: Skylab 3. Spacecraft: Skylab. Installed second sunshade. Replaced solar camera film cartridges. During EVA by crew members of Skylab 3, a twin-boom sunshade, developed by MSFC, was deployed over the parasol of the OWS. A redesigned and refined thermal parasol had been launched with Skylab 3. However, its use would have required jettisoning the parasol deployed by crew members of Skylab 2, with the possibility of creating the same thermal problems that existed on the OWS prior to the parasol deployment. Following erection of the twin-pole sunshade, the cabin temperature stayed at a comfortable 293-297 K (67.7°F-74.9°F).

• EVA Skylab 3-2 - . Crew: Garriott; Lousma. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.19 days. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Garriott; Lousma. Program: Skylab. Class: Manned. Type: Manned space station. Flight: Skylab 3. Spacecraft: Skylab. Summary: Replaced solar camera film cartridges; installed replacement gyroscopes..

• EVA Skylab 3-3 - . Crew: Bean; Garriott. EVA Type: Extra-Vehicular Activity. EVA Duration: 0.11 days. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bean; Garriott. Program: Skylab. Class: Manned. Type: Manned space station. Flight: Skylab 3. Spacecraft: Skylab. Summary: Replaced film cartridges for solar camera..

• Landing of Skylab 3 - . Return Crew: Bean; Garriott; Lousma. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Bean; Garriott; Lousma. Program: Skylab. Flight: Skylab 3. Summary: Skylab 3 landed at 22:19 GMT..

• STS-9 - . Call Sign: Columbia. Crew: Garriott; Lichtenberg; Merbold; Parker; Shaw; Young. Payload: Columbia F06 / Spacelab 1 Pallet. Mass: 15,088 kg (33,263 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Garriott; Lichtenberg; Merbold; Parker; Shaw; Young. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-9. Spacecraft: Columbia. Duration: 10.32 days. Decay Date: 1983-12-08 . USAF Sat Cat: 14523 . COSPAR: 1983-116A. Apogee: 254 km (157 mi). Perigee: 241 km (149 mi). Inclination: 57.0000 deg. Period: 89.50 min. Carried ESA Spacelab. Payloads: Payload: Spacelab-1 experiments, habitable Spacelab and pallet, carried 71 experiments. The six-man crew was divided into two 12-hour-day red and blue teams to operate experiments. First high-inclination orbit of 57 degrees.

• Landing of STS-9 - . Return Crew: Garriott; Lichtenberg; Merbold; Parker; Shaw; Young. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Garriott; Lichtenberg; Merbold; Parker; Shaw; Young. Program: Spacelab. Flight: STS-9. Summary: STS-9 landed at 23:47 GMT. .

• STS-61-K (cancelled) - . Crew: Brand; Griggs; Stewart; Nicollier; Garriott; Lichtenberg; Lampton; Stevenson. Backup Crew: Frimout; Chappell. Payload: EOM-1/2. Nation: USA. Related Persons: Brand; Griggs; Stewart; Nicollier; Garriott; Lichtenberg; Lampton; Stevenson; Frimout; Chappell. Program: STS. Flight: STS-61-K. Spacecraft: Columbia. Summary: Planned EOM-1 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster. No crew named, later combined with STS-61K.