Deke Slayton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Astronaut | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born | March 1, 1924 Sparta, Wisconsin |
| Died | June 13, 1993 League City, Texas |
| Occupation1 | Fighter pilot |
| Rank | Major, USAF |
| Space time | 9d 01h 28m |
| Selection | 1959 NASA Group |
| Mission(s) | Apollo-Soyuz Test Project |
| Mission insignia |  |
| This infobox needs updating. Please see Template talk:Infobox Astronaut for information | |
| 1 previous or current | |
Donald Kent 'Deke' Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was one of the original "Mercury Seven" NASA astronauts. Initially grounded by a heart condition, he would serve as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations. Deke Slayton was responsible for all crew assignments at NASA from November 1963 until March 1972, when he was granted medical clearance to fly as docking module pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. At the time of the flight, he became the oldest man to fly into space.
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[edit] Biography
Slayton was born on a farm near Sparta, Wisconsin. A childhood farm equipment accident left him with a severed left ring finger. He entered the United States Army Air Forces as a cadet in 1942. He trained as a B-25 pilot and flew 56 combat missions over Europe during World War II.
After the war, Slayton earned a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.
A US Air Force pilot, he was chosen as one of the original seven American Astronauts in 1959. Slayton was scheduled to fly in 1962 on the second orbital flight (to have been named Delta 7, the name coming from the mission being the fourth spaceflight--the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet and the seven astronauts), but due to an erratic heart rate (idiopathic atrial fibrillation), he was grounded, and his place was taken by Scott Carpenter. Slayton was the only member of the Mercury Seven who did not fly on the Mercury program, and in fact would not fly in space until after the last moon shot.
When NASA grounded him, the Air Force followed suit. Slayton resigned his Air Force commission in 1963 and worked for NASA in a civilian capacity as head of Astronaut selection. Unofficially called "Chief Astronaut," he had the decisive role of choosing the crews for the Gemini and Apollo programs, including the decision of who would be the first man on the moon (though, in fact, the selection of Armstrong to precede Aldrin out of the LM was primarily a factor of design -- the direction that the door opened made it easier and faster for Armstrong to go first). Slayton remained extremely loyal to the other Mercury astronauts who remained in the space program ensuring they were given assignments. In 1972, Slayton was awarded the Society of Experimental Test Pilots James H. Doolittle Award.
A long medical program led to him being restored to full flight status in 1973, when he selected himself as docking module pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, designed to allow a docking between the American Apollo spacecraft and the Soyuz spacecraft of the Soviet Union. On July 17, 1975, the two craft joined up in orbit, and astronauts Slayton, Thomas Stafford and Vance D. Brand conducted crew transfers with cosmonauts Aleksey A. Leonov and Valeriy Kubasov.
Upon his return, he became Head of Shuttle Approach & Landing Test Program for NASA's Space Shuttle program.
Slayton retired from NASA in 1982. After his retirement, he served as president of Space Services, Inc., a Houston based company he founded to develop rockets for small commercial payloads. He helped design and build a rocket called the "Conestoga", which was successfully launched on September 9, 1982. He also became interested in aviation racing.
Slayton teamed up with fellow astronaut Alan Shepard to write the book, Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon, in 1988. The book was made into a documentary film of the same name in 1994, but Slayton died before filming was completed. He also penned an autobiography entitled Deke!: An Autobiography.
Shortly after he moved to League City, Texas in 1992, Slayton was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He succumbed to the illness the following summer.
Slayton was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996.
The Deke Slayton Cancer Center (located on Medical Center Blvd. in Webster, Texas) was named in his honor.
[edit] In fiction
In the novel Ice, Slayton is cleared for active flight rotation and assigned as Command Module Pilot on a fictional Apollo 20 mission. The capsule he pilots is a Skylab rescue vehicle, and the mission objective is to retrieve the remains of two Apollo 19 astronauts who are presumed dead after their Lunar Module ascent stage failed to fire. Happily, Slayton's crew finds the astronauts alive, after all. No such rescue or recovery mission was ever required -- or even possible -- during Project Apollo.
[edit] Film portraits
- In the 1983 film The Right Stuff Slayton was played by Scott Paulin.
- In the 1995 film Apollo 13 he was played by Chris Ellis.
- In the 1996 TV movie Apollo 11 he was played by Jack Conley.
- In the 1998 TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon he was played by Nick Searcy.
Slayton was the prototype for Chief Astronaut Ted Dougherty (portrayed by David Janssen) in the film Marooned. Dougherty pilots the mission to rescue the crew of Ironman One after they are trapped in Earth orbit by a glitch in their Service Propulsion System (the "main engine").
[edit] See also
[edit] Books
- Moon Shot, The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon - ISBN 1-57036-167-3
- Deke!: An Autobiography - ISBN 0-312-85918-X
