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Scott, David Randolph
Scott
Scott
Credit: www.spacefacts.de
American test pilot astronaut 1963-1977. Seventh person to walk on the moon. First to drive a lunar wheeled vehicle. Member of first crew to dock in space.

Status: Inactive; Active 1963-1977. Born: 1932-06-06. Spaceflights: 3 . Total time in space: 22.79 days. Birth Place: San Antonio, Texas.

Educated West Point; MIT.

Official NASA Biography as of June 2016:David R. Scott (Colonel, USAF, Ret.)
NASA Astronaut (former)

PERSONAL DATA: Born June 6, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas. Married. Two children. Recreational interests include swimming, handball, skiing, and photography.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Western High School, Washington, D.C.; received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy and the degrees of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Astronautical Science from the University of Michigan in 1971. He has graduated from the Air Force Experimental Test Pilots School and Aerospace Research Pilots School.

ORGANIZATIONS: Scott is a fellow of the American Astronautical Society, Associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi and Sigma Gamma Tau.

SPECIAL HONORS: Two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Association's David C. Schilling Trophy and the Robert J. Collier Trophy for 1971.

EXPERIENCE: Scott graduated fifth in a class of 633 at West Point and subsequently chose an Air Force career. He completed pilot training at Webb Air Force Base, Texas, in 1955 and then reported for gunnery training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, and Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

He was assigned to the 32d Tactical Fighter squadron at Soesterberg Air Base (RNAF), Netherlands, from April 1956 to July 1960. Upon completing this tour of duty, he returned to he United States for study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He retired from the Air Force in March 1975 with the rank of Colonel and over 5600 hours of flying time.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Scott was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963.

On March 16, 1966, he and command pilot Neil Armstrong were launched into space on the Gemini 8 mission--a flight originally scheduled to last three days but terminated early due to a malfunctioning thruster. The crew performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space and demonstrated great piloting skill in overcoming the thruster problem and bringing the spacecraft to a safe landing.

Scott served as command module pilot for Apollo 9, March 3-13, 1969. This was the third manned flight in the Apollo series, the second to be launched by a Saturn V, and the first to complete a comprehensive earth-orbital qualification and verification test of a "fully configured Apollo spacecraft." The ten-day flight provided vital information previously not available on the operational performance, stability, and reliability of lunar module propulsion and life support systems. Highlight of this evaluation was completion of a critical lunar-orbit rendezvous simulation and subsequent docking, initiated by James McDivitt and Russell Schweickart from within the lunar module at a separation distance which exceeded 100 miles from the command/service module piloted by Scott. The crew also demonstrated and confirmed the operational feasibility of crew transfer and extravehicular activity techniques and equipment, with Schweickart completing a 46-minute EVA outside the lunar module. During this period, Dave Scott completed a 1-hour stand-up EVA in the open command module hatch photographing Schweickart's activities and also retrieving thermal samples from the command module exterior. Apollo 9 splashed down less than four miles from the helicopter carrier USS GUADALCANAL.

In his next assignment, Scott was designated backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 12.

He made his third space flight as spacecraft commander of Apollo 15, July 26 - August 7, 1971. His companions on the flight were Alfred M. Worden (command module pilot) and James B. Irwin (lunar module pilot). Apollo 15 was the fourth manned lunar landing mission and the first to visit and explore the moon's Hadley Rille and Apennine Mountains which are located on the southeast edge of the Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). The lunar module, "Falcon," remained on the lunar surface for 66 hours and 54 minutes (setting a new record for lunar surface stay time) and Scott and Irwin logged 18 hours and 35 minutes each in extravehicular activities conducted during three separate excursions onto the lunar surface. Using "Rover-1" to transport themselves and their equipment along portions of Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountains, Scott and Irwin performed a selenological inspection and survey of the area and collected 180 pounds of lunar surface materials. They deployed an ALSEP package which involved the emplacement and activation of surface experiments, and their lunar surface activities were televised using a TV camera which was operated remotely by ground controllers stationed in the mission control center located at Houston, Texas. Other Apollo 15 achievements include: largest payloads ever placed into earth and lunar orbits; first scientific instrument module bay flown and operated on an Apollo spacecraft; longest distance traversed on lunar surface; first use of a lunar surface navigation device (mounted on Rover-1); first subsatellite launched in lunar orbit; and first extravehicular (EVA) from a command module during transearth coast. The latter feat performed by Worden during three excursions to "Endeavour's" SIM-bay where he retrieved film cassettes from the panoramic and mapping cameras and reported his personal observations of the general condition of equipment housed there. Apollo 15 concluded with a Pacific Ocean splashdown and subsequent recovery by the USS OKINAWA.

He has logged 546 hours and 54 minutes in space, of which 20 hours and 46 minutes were in Extravehicular Activity. He is only one of three Astronauts who have flown both earth orbital and lunar Apollo Missions.

DECEMBER 1975

This is the only version available from NASA. Updates must be sought direct from the above named individual.

Official Biography

NAME: David R. Scott

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Scott was born June 6, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas.

EDUCATION: Scott received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954, standing fifth in a class of 633, and the degrees of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962.

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from the US Military Academy in 1954, he entered the US Air Force. He later graduated from the Experimental Test Pilot School and Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1963. On March 16, 1966 Scott and Neil Armstrong aboard Gemini 8 conducted the first docking in space. But shortly after the Gemini and the Agena docked, the craft began spinning out of control. Armstrong disengaged from the Agena, thinking the problem was on there, but the tumbling worsened. It was later determined that it was one of 16 Gemini thrusters that was stuck. Unable to stop the spin with the main thrusters, Armstrong shut down the Gemini's reaction control system and brought the craft under control using a second set of 16 thrusters intended only for use on re-entry. Mission Control ordered Armstrong and Scott to cut the flight short and they splashed down in a contingency recovery area in the western Pacific. Scott missed out on his planned space walk.

Scott's next flight was Apollo 9, a ten day earth orbit test of the first complete set of Apollo hardware. Commander James A. McDivitt and Lunar Module pilot Russell L. Schweickart accompanied Scott on the March 3, 1969 launch. McDivitt and Schweickart took the Lunar Module on its first manned test, flying 182 km away from Scott in the Command Module before flying back to a rendezvous and docking.

Scott was in command of the fourth lunar landing, Apollo 15, launched on July 26, 1971,. He and James B. Irwin flew their Lunar Module to the moon's surface while Alfred M. Worden waited in the Command Module in lunar orbit. This was the first extended scientific expedition to the moon and the first to use the Lunar Rover. In three separate excursions over three days they explored the most spectacular Apollo landing site, a narrow valley hemmed in on three sides by the 4,500 m Apennine Mountains and on the fourth by a 2 km wide canyon, Hadley Rille. They returned with 77 kg of rocks, having left behind an ALSEP science station for continued monitoring of the lunar environment.

Following the moon flight, Scott held administrative posts with NASA, including Director of the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. He retired from the Air Force in 1975 as a colonel. He was later President of Scott Science and Technology.



More at: Scott.

Family: Astronaut. Country: USA. Spacecraft: Gemini. Flights: Gemini 8, Apollo 204, Apollo 207, Apollo 9, Apollo 12, Apollo 15. Projects: Apollo. Agency: USAF. Bibliography: 5993.
Photo Gallery

ScottScott
Credit: www.spacefacts.de


Gemini 8Gemini 8
Astronauts Scott and Armstrong inserted into Gemini 8 spacecraft
Credit: NASA


Gemini 8Gemini 8
Astronaut David R. Scott in Gemini 8 spacecraft during countdown
Credit: NASA



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1966 March 16 - . 16:41 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC19. LV Family: Titan. Launch Vehicle: Titan II GLV.
1966 October 19 - . Launch Vehicle: Saturn I.
1967 January 27 - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral. LV Family: Saturn I. Launch Vehicle: Saturn IB.
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1969 March 3 - . 16:00 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39A. Launch Platform: LUT2. Launch Vehicle: Saturn V.
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1969 November 14 - . 16:22 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39A. Launch Platform: LUT2. Launch Vehicle: Saturn V.
1971 July 26 - . 13:34 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39A. Launch Platform: LUT3. Launch Vehicle: Saturn V.
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