Robert L. Gibson

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For other persons named Robert Gibson, see Robert Gibson (disambiguation).

**Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson**
Astronaut

Nationality	American
Born	October 30, 1946 Cooperstown, New York
Occupation¹	Test Pilot
Rank	Captain, USN
Space time	36d 04h 15m
Selection	1978 NASA Group
Mission(s)	STS-41-B, STS-61-C, STS-27, STS-47, STS-71
Mission insignia
¹ previous or current

Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson (Captain, USN) (born October 30, 1946) is a former NASA astronaut.

1 Personal data
2 Education
3 Special honors
4 Experience
5 NASA experience
6 External links

[edit] Personal data

Born in Cooperstown, New York, but considers the Lakewood area of east Long Beach, California, to be his hometown. Married to Dr. M. Rhea Seddon of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, another astronaut. Four children. He enjoys home built aircraft, formula one air racing, running and surfing during his free time. His mother, Mrs. Paul A. Gibson, resides in Seal Beach, California. His father who is deceased, was an FAA Inspector, and once built his own private plane with help from his family -- in the garage of their home in Long Beach, California. Family includes brothers, Jon and Don and a sister Kathy.

[edit] Education

1964: Graduated from Huntington High School, Huntington, New York
1966: Received an associate degree in engineering science from Suffolk County Community College
1969: Received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from California Polytechnic State University

[edit] Special honors

Awarded the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) "Louis Bleriot Medal" (1992)
Awarded the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) "Freedom of Flight" Award (1989)
Established world records for "Altitude in Horizontal Flight," Airplane Class C1A in 1991, and "Time to Climb to 9000 Meters" in 1994

Military awards include:

the Defense Superior Service Medal
the Distinguished Flying Cross
3 Air Medals
the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V"
a Navy Unit Commendation
Meritorious Unit Commendation
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal

[edit] Experience

Gibson entered active duty with the Navy in 1969. He received primary and basic flight training at Naval Air Stations Saufley Field and Pensacola, Florida, and Meridian, Mississippi, and completed advanced flight training at the Naval Air Station at Kingsville, Texas.

While assigned to Fighter Squadrons 111 and 1, during the period April 1972 to September 1975, he saw duty aboard the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) and the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) -- flying combat missions in Southeast Asia. He is a graduate of the Naval Fighter Weapons School, "Topgun." Gibson returned to the United States and an assignment as an F-14A instructor pilot with Fighter Squadron 124. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, in June 1977, and later became involved in the test and evaluation of F-14A aircraft while assigned to the Naval Air Test Center's Strike Aircraft Test Directorate.

His flight experience includes over 6,000 hours in over 50 types of civil and military aircraft. He holds airline transport pilot, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, and has held a private pilot rating since age 17. Gibson has also completed over 300 carrier landings.

[edit] NASA experience

Selected by NASA in January 1978, Gibson became an astronaut in August 1979. Gibson has flown five missions: STS-41-B in 1984, STS-61-C in 1986, STS-27 in 1988, STS-47 in 1992, and STS-71 in 1995. Gibson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992 to September 1994) and as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996).

On his first space flight Gibson was the pilot on the crew of STS 41-B which launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight accomplished the proper Shuttle deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites which failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper stage rocket failures. Rendezvous sensors and computer programs were flight tested for the first time. The STS 41-B mission marked the first checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU),and Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR), with Bruce McCandless II and Bob Stewart performing two spectacular EVA's (space walks). The German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), six "Getaway Specials," and materials processing experiments were included on the mission. The eight-day orbital flight of Challenger culminated in the first landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984, and Gibson logged 191 hours in space.

Gibson was the spacecraft commander of the STS-61-C mission. The seven-man crew on board the Orbiter Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. During the six-day flight the crew deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission concluded with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986, and logged him an additional 146 hours in space.

Gibson subsequently participated in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, and also participated in the redesign and recertification of the solid rocket boosters.

As the spacecraft commander of STS-27, Gibson and his five-man crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988, aboard the Orbiter Atlantis. The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, and a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours.

On Gibson's fourth space flight, the 50th Space Shuttle mission, he served as spacecraft commander of STS-47, Spacelab-J, which launched on September 12, 1992 aboard the Orbiter Endeavour. The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut as a member of the seven-person crew. During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter Endeavour. The mission ended with a successful landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 126 orbits of the Earth on September 20, 1992.

Most recently, (June 27 to July 7, 1995), Captain Gibson commanded a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The Atlantis Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.

In five space flights, Gibson has completed a total of 36½ days in space.

Gibson left NASA in November 1996 to and became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. In 2006, as reported by NASA Watch, Gibson was forced to retire as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial airline pilots (Gibson will turn 60 this year, the mandatory retirement age set by the FAA).

Source: NASA biographical information