Encyclopedia Astronautica
Cameron


icameron.jpg
Cameron
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Cameron, Kenneth Donald (1949-) American test pilot astronaut. Flew on STS-37, STS-56, STS-74. US Marine Corps

NASA Official Biography

NAME: Kenneth D. Cameron (Colonel, USMC)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA:
Born November 29, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio. Married Michele Renee Fulford of Pensacola, Florida, in November 1973. They have two sons. He enjoys flying (CFI-SEL), athletics, camping, fishing, woodworking, reading, amateur radio, and volunteering as a youth soccer coach and Boy Scout leader. Former board member for church day school, and for community association.

EDUCATION:
Graduated from Rocky River High School, Rocky River, Ohio, in 1967, and entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT in 1978, and a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT in 1979. Graduated from U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in 1983. Completed numerous courses in Russian language and Russian space systems at MIT, JSC, and at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Moscow, Russia. Presently enrolled, evenings, at University of Houston, Clear Lake, in the Master of Business Administration degree program.

SPECIAL HONORS:
Defense Superior Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V", NASA Leadership Medals (2), NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals (2), NASA Space Flight Medals (3), Combat Action Ribbon, Vietnamese Meritorious Unit Citation, the Admiral Louis de Flores Award (MIT), C.S. Draper Laboratory Fellowship, Marine Corps Association Leadership Sword.

EXPERIENCE:
Cameron was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1970 at Officer's Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. After graduating from the Officer's Basic Infantry Course and Vietnamese Language School, he was assigned to the Republic of Vietnam for a one-year tour of duty as an infantry platoon commander with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment and, later, with the Marine Security Guards at the U.S. Embassy, Saigon. Upon his return to the United States he served as Executive Officer, "I" Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He reported to Pensacola, Florida, in 1972 for flight training, receiving his naval aviator wings in 1973. He was then assigned to Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona, as pilot, flying A-4M Skyhawks, and aircraft maintenance officer, in charge of 200 Marines and 16 aircraft. In 1976, Cameron was reassigned to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he participated in the Marine College Degree and Advanced Degree Programs. Upon graduation, he was assigned to flying duty for one year with Marine Aircraft Group 12 in Iwakuni, Japan. He was subsequently assigned to the Pacific Missile Test Center in 1980, and, in 1982, to the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland. Following graduation in 1983, he was assigned as project officer and test pilot in the F/A-18, A-4, and OV-10 airplanes with the Systems Engineering Test Directorate at the Naval Air Test Center..

He has logged over 4,000 hours flying time in 48 different types of aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE:
Selected by NASA in May 1984, Cameron became an astronaut in June 1985. His technical assignments have included work on Tethered Satellite Payload, flight software testing in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), launch support activities at Kennedy Space Center, and spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control for STS-28, 29,30, 33 & 34. Management assignments include: Section Chief, for astronaut software testing in SAIL, and astronaut launch support activities; and Operations Assistant to the Hubble Repair Mission Director. Cameron served as the first NASA Director of Operations in Star City, Moscow, where he worked with the Cosmonaut Training Center staff to set up a support system for astronaut operations and training in Star City, and received Russian training in Soyuz and Mir spacecraft systems, and flight training in Russian L-39 aircraft. A veteran of three space flights, Cameron has logged over 561 hours in space. He served as pilot on STS-37 (April 5-11, 1991), and was the spacecraft commander on STS-56 (April 9-17, 1993) and STS-74 (November 12-20, 1995).

Cameron flew his first mission as pilot on STS-37. This mission was launched on April 5, 1991, and featured the deployment of the Gamma Ray Observatory for the purpose of exploring gamma ray sources throughout the universe. Atlantis landed on April 11, 1991. On his second mission he was spacecraft commander on STS-56, carrying ATLAS-2. During this nine-day mission the crew of Discovery conducted atmospheric and solar studies in order to better understand the effect of solar activity on the Earth's climate and environment, and deployed and retrieved the autonomous observatory Spartan. STS-56 launched on April 8, 1993, and landed at Kennedy Space Center on April 17, 1993. Most recently, Cameron commanded STS-74, NASA's second Space Shuttle mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and the first mission to use the Shuttle to assemble a module and attach it to a Space Station. STS-74 launched on November 12, 1995, and landed at Kennedy Space Center on November 20, 1995.

Cameron will leave NASA on August 5 to join Hughes Training, Inc., as Executive Director, Houston Operations.

JULY 1996

Birth Place: Cleveland, Ohio.
Status: Inactive.


Born: 1949.11.29.
Spaceflights: 3 .
Total time in space: 23.42 days.

More... - Chronology...
Associated Countries
See also
  • Astronaut Category of persons, applied to those trained for spaceflight outside of Russia and China. More...
  • NASA Group 10 - 1984 Requirement: pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights. Nickname: The Maggots. Named by Bill Shepherd, who dubbed them in their earliest group training in aircraft survival school, a term familiar to graduates of USMC boot camp. More...
Associated Flights
  • STS-37 Crew: Apt, Cameron, Godwin, Nagel, Ross. Manned five crew. Unscheduled EVA to manually deploy the Gamma-Ray Observatory's high-gain antenna, which failed to deploy upon ground command. More...
  • STS-56 Crew: Cameron, Cockrell, Foale, Ochoa, Oswald. First radio contact between Shuttle and Mir space station. Manned five crew. Carried Atlas-2; deployed and retrieved Spartan 201. More...
  • STS-74 Crew: Cameron, Hadfield, Halsell, McArthur, Ross. Docked with Mir space station. Delivered the Russian-built 316GK Shuttle-Mir docking module to Mir. More...
Associated Manufacturers and Agencies
Associated Programs
  • 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 originally 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 originally 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...
Bibliography
  • NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Web Address when accessed: here.

Cameron Chronology
1984 May 23 - .
  • NASA Astronaut Training Group 10 selected. - . Nation: USA. Related Persons: Adamson; Baker; Brown, Mark; Cameron; Carter; Casper; Culbertson; Gutierrez; Hammond; Ivins; Lee; Low; McCulley; Shepherd; Thornton; Veach; Wetherbee. 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..

1991 April 5 - . 14:22 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39B. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. LV Configuration: Space Shuttle STS-37R.
  • STS-37 - . Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Apt; Cameron; Godwin; Nagel; Ross. Payload: Atlantis F08 / Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Mass: 16,611 kg (36,620 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Apt; Cameron; Godwin; Nagel; Ross. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-37. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Duration: 5.98 days. Decay Date: 1991-04-11 . USAF Sat Cat: 21224 . COSPAR: 1991-027A. Apogee: 462 km (287 mi). Perigee: 450 km (270 mi). Inclination: 28.5000 deg. Period: 93.70 min. Manned five crew. Unscheduled EVA to manually deploy the Gamma-Ray Observatory's high-gain antenna, which failed to deploy upon ground command. Payloads: Gamma-Ray Observatory (GRO), Crew/ Equipment Translation Aids (part of Extravehicular Activity Development Flight Experiment), Ascent Particle Monitor (APM), Bioserve Instrumentation Technology Associates Materials Dispersion Apparatus (BlMDA), Protein Crystal Growth (PCG)-Block Il, Space Station Heatpipe Advanced Radiator Element (SHARE)-ll, Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)-ll, Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME)-lIl, Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS) Calibration Test.
1991 April 11 - .
1993 April 8 - . 05:29 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39B. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. LV Configuration: Space Shuttle STS-56.
  • STS-56 - . Call Sign: Discovery. Crew: Cameron; Cockrell; Foale; Ochoa; Oswald. Payload: Discovery F16 / Spartan 201-F1 / Atlas-2. Mass: 7,441 kg (16,404 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Cameron; Cockrell; Foale; Ochoa; Oswald. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: STS. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-56. Spacecraft: Discovery. Duration: 9.26 days. Decay Date: 1993-04-17 . USAF Sat Cat: 22621 . COSPAR: 1993-023A. Apogee: 299 km (185 mi). Perigee: 291 km (180 mi). Inclination: 57.0000 deg. Period: 90.40 min. Manned five crew. Carried Atlas-2; deployed and retrieved Spartan 201. Payloads: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS) 2, Shuttle Solar Backscat-ter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) A, Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN) 201 (Solar Wind Generation Experi-ment), Solar Ultraviolet Experiment (SUVE), Commercial Material Dispersion Apparatus (CMIX), Physiological and Anatomical Rodent Experiment (PARE), Hand-held, Earth-oriented, Real-time, Cooperative, User-friendly, Location-targeting, and Environmental System (HER-CULES), Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II, Space Tissue Loss (STL), Air Force Maui Optical Site (AMOS), Cosmic Radiation Effects and Activation Monitor (CREAM), Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME) III.
1993 April 17 - .
1995 November 12 - . 12:30 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39A. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. LV Configuration: Space Shuttle STS-74.
  • STS-74 - . Call Sign: Atlantis. Crew: Cameron; Hadfield; Halsell; McArthur; Ross. Payload: Atlantis F15 / 316GK SM. Mass: 6,134 kg (13,523 lb). Nation: USA. Related Persons: Cameron; Hadfield; Halsell; McArthur; Ross. Agency: NASA Houston. Program: Mir. Class: Manned. Type: Manned spaceplane. Flight: STS-74; Mir EO-20. Spacecraft: Atlantis. Duration: 8.19 days. Decay Date: 1995-11-20 . USAF Sat Cat: 23714 . COSPAR: 1995-061A. Apogee: 342 km (212 mi). Perigee: 257 km (159 mi). Inclination: 51.6000 deg. Period: 91.40 min. Rendezvoused and docked with Mir space station on November 15. Delivered the Russian-built 316GK Shuttle-Mir docking module to Mir.Payloads: Shuttle-Mir Mission 2; docking module with two attached solar arrays; IMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC); Glow Experiment (GLO-4)/ Photogrammetric Appendage Structural Dynamics Experiment (PASDE) Payload (GPP); Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) II.
1995 November 20 - .
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