NASA's Astronauts - Groups 3 to 7 Quiz

Answer: MIT

Although Buzz Aldrin's career mirrored that of his contemporaries - he graduated from West Point with a degree in mechanical engineering, entered the US Air Force to train as a pilot, saw combat during the Korean War flying F-86 Sabres, during which he shot down two enemy aircraft, was posted to a fighter squadron in West Germany, and served a period as an instructor - he was less of the traditional kind of fast jet pilot. His passion for academia came out when, at the urging of his former squadron mate, Ed White, he enrolled as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1959, intending to study for a Master's degree. Finding that he enjoyed the work, he advanced his studies with the intention instead of obtaining a doctorate. In 1963, he passed, earning an Sc.D in astronautics, with his doctoral thesis entitled "Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous".

In May 1963, Aldrin applied to selection as part of NASA's third astronaut group. He had previously applied the year before when Group 2 was being recruited, but his lack of test pilot experience disqualified him. However, this requirement was dropped for Group 3, with instead a minimum level of fast jet experience needed. Aldrin thus became the first astronaut with a doctorate, with his expertise leading to his being given the nickname "Dr Rendezvous". He was able to use his expertise in rendezvous techniques directly when, flying as the pilot of Gemini 12 alongside Jim Lovell in 1966, the spacecraft's radar failed, meaning Aldrin, using the backup charts and procedures he had helped design, plus a new type of sextant, was able to manually guide the spacecraft into the rendezvous and docking with its Agena target vehicle, proving the techniques he had studied for his doctoral thesis worked.

Answer: C.C. Williams

Clifton Williams joined the United States Marine Corps in 1954 following his graduation from Auburn University, becoming an aviator two years later and flying tactical fighter jets with the Fleet Marine Force. He subsequently went through the US Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) at Patuxent River, serving as a test pilot for three years until he was selected as a member of NASA's third group. Williams received his first crew assignment in 1966, when he was selected to serve as the backup pilot for Gemini 10, alongside his fellow Group 3 astronaut, Alan Bean, who was assigned as the backup commander for the mission. Although this gave neither man a chance of becoming the prime crew of a Gemini flight, as Project Gemini was scheduled to end after Gemini 12, it did mean that they had potentially made their way into the flight rotation for the upcoming Project Apollo.

Although Williams was selected by Pete Conrad to serve as the Lunar Module Pilot on his crew, which was assigned as the backups for the mission that eventually became Apollo 9, Bean was not initially selected for an Apollo crew, and was instead assigned as one of the astronaut representatives to the Apollo Applications Project, intended to find future uses for Apollo's hardware. However, on 5 October 1967, Williams was killed flying from Cape Canaveral to Houston when a mechanical failure caused his aircraft to crash. To replace Williams, Conrad again personally requested Bean, whom he had taught at USNTPS; alongside Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon, they became the prime crew of Apollo 12, landing on the Moon at the Ocean of Storms on 19 November 1969.

Answer: Owen Garriott

Having gained a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1953, Owen Garriott subsequently served in the US Navy for three years as an electronics officer, before returning to academia at Stanford University, where he gained first a Master's degree and then a doctorate in electrical engineering, becoming an associate professor during his time there. It was while at Stanford that Garriott applied for and was selected as part of NASA's fourth group of astronauts, the first group of scientists rather than pilots recruited. As part of his initial training, he, along with three of his groupmates, had to undertake a year of pilot training with the US Air Force to qualify for flying fast jets, before receiving an astronaut assignment.

Garriott's first flight assignment came following the decision that each crew assigned to a Skylab mission would include a scientist astronaut. As a result, he was assigned to the position of "Science Pilot" on Skylab 3, the second manned flight to the space station, spending almost 60 days in orbit. During his time on board, Garriott performed three EVAs, the first of which involved the installation of one of the new sunshades required to cool the station after it was damaged on launch. Garriott's second spaceflight came in 1983, when he was selected as one of the Mission Specialists on STS-9, which made him the only Group 4 astronaut to fly aboard the space shuttle. Garriott was also an enthusiastic amateur radio operator, and, during STS-9, became the first person to make contact with other amateur radio operators while in space.

Answer: Astrophysics

Curt Michel's path to the astronaut corps could have followed a more traditional route as, having worked as an engineer at Firestone, in 1955 he joined the US Air Force, where he received flight training and served for two years as a fighter pilot in Europe. However, the same year that he joined the Air Force saw him earn a Bachelor's degree in physics from CalTech and, following the end of his military tour, he returned there as a graduate student undertaking both theoretical and experimental work in both nuclear and astrophysics. it was from CalTech that he gained a PhD in 1962, before joining Rice University in Houston as a teaching professor of astrophysics, focusing primarily on both research and teaching in the space sciences. It was while at Rice that he was selected as part of NASA's fourth group of astronauts in 1965.

As one of the two Group 4 astronauts with flying experience, Michel did not have to undertake the one year flying course that most of his group mates were required to do before they could start astronaut training. However, rather than being assigned to Project Apollo, Michel and his fellows were largely put to work on what was termed the Apollo Applications Project, a program intended to find uses for Apollo's technology after the end of the lunar program, which ultimately resulted in the development of Skylab and the Apollo Telescope Mount (ATM) that would be fitted to it. Although the ATM work fitted with Michel's area of expertise, the apparent lack of opportunities for assignment to a spaceflight, combined with the fact that his work as an astronaut limited the time he could spend on his research, saw him take a one-year leave to return to Rice in 1968, before deciding to leave NASA in 1969, having never flown in space.

Answer: New Mexico

Prior to his recruitment by NASA as part of the fourth astronaut group, geologist Harrison Schmitt had, during the period studying for his PhD, worked in the astrogeology centre of the US Geological Survey in Arizona, where he was involved in developing and refining the geology field techniques that would subsequently be used on the Moon. His training and experience led to his becoming one of the major figures in the geology training program for astronauts following his recruitment, and the completion of his one year of flying training. However, he was also keen to continue astronaut training, and was always ready to offer his services if an astronaut were needed for any testing of equipment that was needed. As a result, he became the first of his group mates to receive a flight assignment, when he was named backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 15. With Apollo scheduled to end after Apollo 17, the scientific community pressured NASA to assign Schmitt to the last flight, leading to his becoming the only professional scientist to walk on the Moon.

Following his return from Apollo 17, Schmitt was involved in the documentation of all of the geologic results obtained from the six landing missions, before ultimately leaving NASA in August 1975. His departure came as he decided to run for the United States Senate in his home state of New Mexico. Spending fourteen months on the campaign trail, Schmitt won the Republican primary in June 1976, going on to face the Democratic incumbent, Joseph Montoya. In the election, Schmitt won by 57% to 42%, beginning his six-year term in January 1977. During his time in the Senate, he served as chairman of the Science, Technology and Space Subcommittee, as well as a number of other Senate committees. But, in his bid for re-election in 1982, he lost to Jeff Bingaman.

Answer: US Navy

Having completed a philosophy degree in 1953, Joe Kerwin then went to medical school, completing his training in 1957, before joining the United States Navy the following year to undertake training at the School of Aviation Medicine. In December 1958, he was designated as a flight surgeon, going on to receive his wings in 1962 having completed his flying course. As a result of his experience in fast jets from the Navy, Kerwin was one of two members of Group 4, recruited in 1965, who were not required to undertake a year of flight training after they joined NASA. Kerwin's first significant assignment came when he was assigned as one of the support crew to Apollo 13, also serving as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) during the flight. However, from 1970 onwards, Kerwin was primarily assigned to the Apollo Applications Program, which eventually became Skylab.

In 1972, Kerwin was assigned as the Science Pilot of the first manned mission to Skylab. Skylab 2 launched in June 1973, with the crew ultimately spending 28 days in orbit, with 26 of them aboard the space station, setting a new record for human spaceflight. Kerwin's presence as the Science Pilot on the flight was specific, as NASA wanted a medical doctor on the first mission to Skylab to study the effects of long duration spaceflight on the human body. For this, a major series of medical experiments were designed to be undertaken during the crew's time on Skylab. After his return from space, Kerwin served in a number of roles within NASA, with his final one as the Director of Space and Life Sciences in Houston, overseeing medical support for the space programme, as well as managing elements of NASA's efforts in research. Kerwin, who was still a naval officer, retired from the US Navy and left NASA in 1987.

Answer: Joe Engle

In 1963, Joe Engle, then an officer in the US Air Force assigned to the Fighter Test Group at Edwards Air Force Base, had applied to become an astronaut when NASA announced the recruitment of a third group. However, his application was pulled by the Air Force, who instead assigned him to the X-15 programme. The X-15 was a rocket powered research aircraft operated jointly by the Air Force and NASA capable of flying at hypersonic speeds to altitudes on what was termed "the edge of space". At the time, the US Department of Defense awarded astronaut status to anyone who flew beyond an altitude of 50 miles, with this status displayed by a special astronaut wings badge. On 29 June 1965, in his nineteenth flight as pilot of the X-15, Engle took the aircraft to an altitude of 53.1 miles, which saw he granted the status of astronaut. Engle subsequently took the X-15 over the 50 mile limit twice more, including the flight on 14 October 1965, which was his last in the aircraft.

In 1966, Engle was selected as a member of NASA's fifth group of astronauts. He served on the support crew of Apollo 10, and was named as backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 14, which set him to go to the Moon on Apollo 17. However, owing to the cancellation of subsequent missions, the scientific community put pressure on NASA to put a scientist on the last lunar landing, which led to Engle being replaced by Group 4 astronaut Harrison Schmitt. Engle was subsequently assigned to the Space Shuttle Program, and named as one of the two crew commanders for the Approach and Landing Tests project, which tested the flying characteristics of the shuttle orbiter. In November 1981, fifteen years after joining NASA, Engle made his first spaceflight when STS-2, the second operational shuttle flight, was launched. Engle flew his second and final mission in August 1985.

Answer: Rubella

Ken Mattingly was serving in the US Navy when, in 1965, while he was a student at the Air Force Test Pilot School, his class was offered the chance to volunteer to become astronauts, either with NASA, or through the new Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Although Mattingly chose the latter, he was rejected, and was instead put through to the selection process for NASA. He was successful, and was selected as one of NASA's fifth group in 1966. His first crew assignment came when he was assigned to the support crew of Apollo 8 in 1968. The following year, as one of his group's Command Module specialists, he was assigned to train in parallel with Bill Anders as the backup Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11, owing to Anders' intention to leave NASA in August 1969, and the need to have a backup in case of a delay to the mission. With Anders' departure, Mattingly was assigned as the Command Module Pilot on Jim Lovell's crew, which was initially assigned as the prime crew of Apollo 14, before being moved forward one mission to Apollo 13.

With training complete and only week to go before launch, Apollo 13's backup Lunar module Pilot, Charlie Duke, contracted rubella, also known as German measles, from a friend of his son. Rubella is a viral infection causing rash, fever, sore throat and fatigue, among other symptoms. Duke's infection exposed both the prime and backup crews to the virus - although Duke's fellow backups, John Young and Jack Swigert, as well as Jim Lovell and Fred Haise from the prime crew, had immunity from the disease through prior exposure, Mattingly did not. As a result, it was decided that he would not fly the mission. Although this would have normally meant the whole crew being replaced by their backups, this was not possible owing to Duke's condition, and so just Mattingly was replaced by his individual backup, Swigert. The swap saw Mattingly reassigned to John Young's crew, which flew to the Moon as the crew of Apollo 16 in 1972. Mattingly also went on to fly two missions aboard the space shuttle.

Answer: Challenger

While Bruce McCandless was a well regarded naval aviator prior to his recruitment by NASA, he also had a background in engineering, having undertaken a Master's degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University to go with the Bachelor's degree he gained at the US Naval Academy. This meant that, although he had considerable experience in fast jets, he had little test pilot experience, which at the time was highly valued within NASA. As a result, although he was given various assignments, which included time as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) during both the launch phase and EVA of Apollo 11, he did not receive a crew assignment until appointed to the support crew of Apollo 14. His first flight assignment came when he was named as the backup pilot of Skylab 2, the first manned flight to the Skylab space station. One of the major projects during Skylab that McCandless worked on was an experimental maneuvering unit designed to allow astronauts to work unteathered.

McCandless's work on this experiment led to his becoming part of the team involved in developing the device that came to be called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), a self-contained propulsion unit designed to be worn over the astronaut's life support system during EVA to allow work to de undertaken at distance from the spacecraft. As a result of his work on the MMU, McCandless entered the space shuttle program classed as a Mission Specialist rather than as a Pilot like his group mates. Because he was an MMU expert, this virtually guaranteed McCandless a flight, which came when he was assigned to STS-41-B. The Space Shuttle Challenger was launched on 3 February 1984, with McCandless one of a crew of five. On the fourth day of the mission, McCandless and fellow Mission Specialist Robert Stewart left the safety of Challenger to perform the first ever unteathered EVA in orbit, during which McCandless traveled almost 100m from the orbiter.

Answer: Serve on Skylab

The Group 5 astronauts began to receive crew assignments starting with serving on backup crews during the initial stages of Apollo, which led to them receiving prime crew assignments from Apollo 13 onwards. This would have made Fred Haise the first member of Group 5 to walk on the Moon, but the explosion that crippled the spacecraft prevented this, and led to Edgar Mitchell becoming the first, when he went to the Moon with Alan Shepard on Apollo 14. On the following two missions, the Lunar Module Pilot was also taken by Group 5 astronauts, with Jim Irwin on Apollo 15 and Charlie Duke on Apollo 16. Joe Engle was due to go to the Moon on Apollo 17, but he was replaced by Group 4 astronaut Harrison Schmitt, leaving a final total of three Group 5 astronauts having walked on the Moon.

Although there were considerably fewer flights to Skylab than there were to the Moon - a total of three compared to five during the latter stages of Apollo - there were in fact more Group 5 astronauts that made the trip to the space station than ended up walking on the Moon, generally in the Pilot seat. Paul Weitz flew in this role on Skylab 2, while Jack Lousma served on Skylab 3, both of whom served under Apollo veterans as the mission commanders (Pete Conrad and Alan Bean respectively). However, the final flight, Skylab 4, featured a pair of Group 5 astronauts; while William Pogue served as the Pilot, Gerald Carr was appointed as the Commander (these astronauts would likely have gone to the Moon on Apollo 19, had it not been cancelled). This meant that a total of four Group 5 astronauts made the journey to Skylab.

Answer: Columbia

By the time Story Musgrave was recruited by NASA as part of the sixth group of astronauts, which was the second group of scientist astronauts, he had gained Bachelor's degrees in Mathematics & Statistics and Chemistry from Syracuse University and Marietta College respectively, a Master's degree in physiology & biophysics from the University of Kentucky, an MBA from UCLA, and an MD from Columbia. After joining NASA, he became the first member of his group to receive a flight assignment when he was named as backup Science Pilot for Skylab 2, while he was heavily involved in the development of much of the EVA equipment for the space shuttle program, including spacesuits, airlocks and life support equipment. His experience in EVA led to his assignment to STS-6 as a Mission Specialist. This was the first mission to use Challenger and, together with Don Peterson, Musgrave performed the first EVA of the program, when the pair spent 4 hours and 17 minutes teathered to the orbiter's payload bay.

Following STS-6, Musgrave made a further five space flights - STS-51-F, again aboard Challenger; STS-33 aboard Discovery; STS-44 aboard Atlantis; STS-61 aboard Endeavour; and STS-80 aboard Columbia. On his final flight, Musgrave set a number of records - he became the first (and ultimately only) astronaut to fly on all five orbiters, he tied the record for the number of individual spaceflights with John Young, who also flew in space six times, while, at the age of 61, he became the oldest person to date to fly in space. STS-80 also broke the record for the longest shuttle flight, remaining in orbit for almost 18 days.

Answer: Gordon Fullerton

Alongside the other members of Group 7, Gordon Fullerton had been recruited into NASA by virtue of his having been selected for astronaut training as part of the US Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory project. He was selected as part of the second cohort of astronauts for this project but, when it was cancelled, transferred with six others to NASA to form part of the expanding astronaut corps. However, at the time he entered, the increasing number of astronauts were in line for a slowly reducing number of spaceflights, owing to the space agency starting to feel the pinch of budget cuts. As a result, Fullerton was unlikely to receive a seat on a flight much before the 1980s. He did however serve on the support crews for Apollo 14 and Apollo 17. Following the end of Project Apollo, Fullerton was moved across to the new Space Shuttle program.

In 1976, the prototype Space Shuttle Orbiter, Enterprise, was rolled out from the factory ahead of a flight test program intended to test its flying characteristics during the landing phase of a mission, when the spacecraft would glide in to land like an aircraft on a runway. For these tests, NASA put together a pair of two-man crews, teaming a Group 5 astronaut as the crew commander with a Group 7 astronaut as the pilot. Fullerton was one of the Group 7 astronauts chosen, and was teamed with Apollo veteran Fred Haise. Between February and October 1977, Enterprise was subjected to a number of tests, initially attached to the Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, before, between August and October, being released to fly and land on its own. The first of these flights, with Fullerton and Haise aboard as the crew, occurred on 12 August, and lasted 5 minutes. Fullerton flew aboard Enterprise a total of three times, including the final flight on 26 October. He subsequently flew in space twice, on STS-3 in 1982 aboard Columbia, before commanding STS-51-F aboard Challenger.

Answer: Anthony England

Anthony England was recruited to NASA from MIT, where he had completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geology and Geophysics. As part of Group 6, he was low ranked in terms of potentially being selected for a spaceflight, but was instead assigned to a range of duties related to Project Apollo, to which he was assigned with five of his group mates. As part of the planned expansion of Apollo's capabilities following the first landing, it was planned, from Apollo 13 onwards, to devote more of each mission to scientific goals. In order to ensure that the scientific community was kept in the loop with NASA's plans for each mission, and that NASA could be kept informed of issues that the scientific community had, a new role of "Mission Scientist" was created; this would form part of the support crew of astronauts, and would be filled by one of the Group 6 members assigned to Apollo. The first flight to feature a Mission Scientist as part of the support crew was Apollo 13, with England assigned to the role.

The in-flight failure of Apollo 13 led to England not acting in his role as Mission Scientist, although one of the major things he was able to do during the mission was to devise the workaround to allow the Command Module's lithium hydroxide scrubbers to work in the Lunar Module's system, thus eliminating the CO2 issue. Owing to the lack of potential spaceflight opportunities, England decided to leave NASA in 1972, and moved to the US Geological Survey, serving in the Office of Geochemistry & Geophysics until 1979. In that year, with NASA having recruited a number of new astronauts for the upcoming Space Shuttle program, England returned to the astronaut corps, eventually flying in space on STS-51-F in 1985.

Answer: NASA Administrator

Richard Truly was one of the first group of astronauts recruited for the US Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project, which led to his transferring to NASA in 1969 when MOL was cancelled. As part of Group 7, he was assigned various duties during the later stages of Apollo, before being appointed to the support crews of all three flights to Skylab, as well as the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. Two years later, he was one of the two Group 7 astronauts to be named to a flight crew for the space shuttle Approach and Landing Test program, which saw him paired with Group 5 astronaut Joe Engle as one of the two crews to fly the prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise. Truly and Engle were subsequently given an operational mission when they were named the crew of STS-2. Two years later, Truly was given command of his own shuttle mission with STS-8.

After the completion of STS-8, Truly left NASA to return to the US Navy, taking command of the newly established Naval Space Command, the naval component of the tri-service US Space Command. However, in February 1986, three weeks after the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger (on which he had flown during STS-8), Truly returned to NASA as Associate Administrator for Space Flight, the administration position that was responsible for overseeing the "Return to Flight" program to restore the space shuttle to operational status. This was successfully completed with the launch of STS-26 in September 1988, 31 months after the loss of Challenger. In May 1989, having retired from the US Navy, Truly was appointed as NASA Administrator, the head of the organisation, remaining in the post until February 1992.

Answer: Group 7

Of the seven astronauts from Group 7, all of them flew in space, with only Donald Peterson, who eventually trained as a Mission Specialist rather than a Pilot, flying one mission. All of the others flew their first mission as the Pilot, before subsequently flying at least once more as Mission Commander - Robert Crippen flew four times, including the very first operational flight; Henry Hartsfield and Karol Bobko flew three times; while Gordon Fullerton, Robert Overmeyer and Richard Truly flew twice. In addition, Fullerton and Truly were also involved in the Approach and Landing Tests program. The seven astronauts from Group 7 ultimately flew a total of 17 missions between them.

Of the eleven members of Group 6, seven ultimately made at least one spaceflight, all of whom flew as Mission Specialists. Story Musgrave was by far the most experienced, flying in space six times, including STS-61, which was the first servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. Joe Allen flew twice, including the first mission to feature members of Group 6 (STS-5); Robert Parker and William Thornton also flew twice, while William Lenoir, Anthony England and Karl Heinze flew a single mission each. The Group 6 astronauts that flew in space flew a total of 15 missions between them.