G. David Low, American astronaut and engineer (b. 1956)

George David Low (February 19, 1956 – March 15, 2008) was an American aerospace executive and a NASA astronaut. He was born in 1956 to George M. Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office and, later, the 14th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With undergraduate degrees in physics and mechanical engineering and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics, he worked in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology in the early 80's, before being picked as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1984. In addition to holding some technical assignments, he logged more than 700 hours in space (including stints on the Columbia, the Atlantis, and the Endeavour Space Shuttles), before he left NASA in 1996 to pursue a career in the private sector.