Robert Crippen

Captain Robert L. Crippen is a former NASA astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions, including three as commander. An aerospace engineering graduate from the University of Texas in 1960, he entered the Navy’s Aviation Officer program. From 1962 to 1964, Crippen became an attack pilot aboard the aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Independence on multiple deployments. He became a NASA astronaut in September 1969 and was a member of the support crew for Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission. Then, on April 12-14, 1981, Captain Crippen earned international acclaim as the pilot of the first orbital test flight of the space shuttle program (STS-1), ushering in a new era of space travel and technology. He went on to serve as the commander of three additional shuttle flights (STS-7 in June 1983, STS-41C in April 1984; STS-41G in October 1984). Crippen retired from the U.S. Navy and subsequently served as the director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center from 1992 to 1995. His accomplishments have earned him many high honors, including the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Flight Achievement Award, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Goddard Memorial Trophy, the Harmon Trophy, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor (the highest award for spaceflight achievement), and induction into the Aviation Hall of Fame. Captain Robert L. Crippen addressed the student delegates at the 1986 Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. at the opening symposium held at the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum, where he spoke about his experiences as the commander of the Space Shuttle, as well as the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger earlier that same year.