| Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart | |
|---|---|
| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | October 25, 1935 Neptune Township, New Jersey |
| Other occupation | Research scientist, fighter pilot, business executive, government executive |
| Time in space | 10d 01h 00m |
| Selection | 1963 NASA Group |
| Total EVAs | 1 |
| Total EVA time | 1 hour 8 minutes |
| Missions | Apollo 9 |
| Mission insignia | |
Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart aka Schweikart (born October 25, 1935) is an American former astronaut, research scientist, US Air Force fighter pilot, business and government executive. Schweickart, chosen in NASA's third astronaut group, is best known as the Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 9 mission, the first manned flight test of the LM, on which he performed the first in-space test of the Portable Life Support System used by the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon. As backup commander of the first Skylab mission, he was responsible for developing the hardware and procedures used by the first crew to perform critical in-flight repairs of the Skylab station. After Skylab, he served for a time as Director of User Affairs in NASA's Office of Applications. Schweickart left NASA in 1977 to serve for two years as California governor Jerry Brown's assistant for science and technology, then was appointed by Brown as California's Commissioner of Energy for five and a half years.[1]
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Schweickart was born in Neptune Township, New Jersey. After graduating from Manasquan High School, he earned an B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics/Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956 and 1963 respectively.[1][2]
Schweickart served in the US Air Force and Massachusetts Air National Guard (101st Tactical Fighter Squadron) from 1956 to 1963, with over 4000 hours of flight time, including 3500 hours in high performance jet aircraft.[1]
Schweickart was chosen as part of NASA Astronaut Group 3 in October 1963. On March 21, 1966, he was named as backup Pilot to Roger B. Chaffee on Apollo 1, which was to have been the first manned Apollo flight. His fellow crewmen were backup Command Pilot James A. McDivitt and David R. Scott, both Project Gemini veterans. In December 1966, this crew was promoted to fly the first manned Earth orbital test of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), with Schewickart as Lunar Module Pilot.
This mission was finally flown as Apollo 9 in March 1969. Schweickart spent just over 241 hours in space, and performed the first Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo program, testing the Portable Life Support System that was later used by the 12 astronauts who walked on the Moon. The flight plan called for him to demonstrate an emergency transfer from the Lunar Module to the Command Module (CM) using handrails on the LM, but he began to suffer from space sickness on the first day in orbit, forcing the postponement of the EVA. Eventually he improved enough to perform a relatively brief standup EVA with his feet restrained on the LM "porch" (a platform used in transferring to the descent ladder), while Command Module Pilot Scott performed a similar standup through the open hatch of the CM.
The time Schweickart spent post-flight studying space sickness contributed to his missing assignments on Apollo lunar missions. Schweickart instead served as backup commander for the first Skylab space station mission, which flew in the Spring of 1973. Following the loss of the space station's thermal shield during launch, he assumed responsibility for the development of hardware and procedures for erecting an emergency solar shade and deploying a jammed solar array wing, operations which saved the space station. Schweickart was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1973.
Schweickart has spoken and taught at the Esalen Institute. Schweickart is also cofounder of the B612 Foundation, a group that aims to defend Earth from asteroid impacts. He is the current Chairman of the Board.[3]
In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon Schweickart was played by Kieran Mulroney.
He appeared in the series The Universe (TV series) on the episodes called The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to Our Planet and Stopping Armageddon
In May 2005 Schweickart told the U.S. Congress that a mission to attach a device such as a radio transponder to asteroid 99942 Apophis (formerly known as 2004 MN4) should be a high priority; it is estimated that this asteroid has a 1 in 6000 probability of striking the earth in the 21st century. The latest data indicates that the chance of Apophis impacting the earth is 1 in 45,000 in 2036.
A Schweickart-approved account of his life and career appears in the 2007 book In the Shadow of the Moon.
In 2010, Schweickart served as Co-Chair of the NASA Advisory Council Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense.[4]
Schweickart, along with Alexey Leonov, Vitaly Sevastyanov and Georgi Grechko established the Association of Space Explorers in 1984. Membership is open to all people who have flown in outer space.
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