Robert Crippen, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
Robert Laurel Crippen (born 11 September 1937) is an American retired naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and retired astronaut. He traveled into space four times: as Pilot of STS-1 in April 1981, the first Space Shuttle mission; and as Commander of STS-7 in June 1983, STS-41-C in April 1984, and STS-41-G in October 1984. He was also a part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT), ASTP, and the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) for the Space Shuttle. He did not go to space for any of those programs.
In 1986, Crippen participated in the recovery operations for the remains of crew members after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He was also on the commissions responsible for determining the cause of the accident.
After retiring as an astronaut, Crippen worked his way through management at NASA, namely as Director, Space Shuttle, at NASA Headquarters, then Director of the Kennedy Space Center. He also went to Lockheed Martin and Thiokol Propulsion before retiring to private life in Florida.
Crippen has received several awards and honors, including the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2006, and having an elementary school named after him in Porter, Texas. He is also a member of several organizations, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP).