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– Owen Garriott, a Skylab astronaut and space shuttle who was the first to use amateur radio in orbit, died at the age of 88.
Garriott 's death, Monday, April 15, was reported by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), an organization of international astronauts and cosmonauts whose Garriott was a distinguished member.
"We have just received a message from the family who asked us to share the sad news that Skylab and Shuttle Astronaut Owen Garriott have died at his home in Huntsville. [Alabama]"The ESA posted on Twitter on Monday, we will miss him tremendously."
NASA also acknowledged Garriott's death in a statement released Monday afternoon.
"Astronauts, scientists and engineers at the Johnson Space Center are saddened by the loss of Owen Garriott," said Astronaut Chief Patrick Forrester. "We remember his story during the Skylab and Space Shuttle programs that helped shape the space program we have today, not only he was a brilliant scientist and astronaut, but he also opened the international cooperation in human space flight. "
Member of NASA's first group of scientific astronauts selected in 1965, Garriott flew twice in space, recording a total of 69 days, 18 hours and 56 minutes of the planet.
Garriott flew his first space flight as the scientific pilot of the second crewed mission to Skylab, the first US space station. With his two team mates, Alan Bean and Jack Lousma, he took off on July 28, 1973 at the top of a Saturn IB rocket and passed an unprecedented 59-day record aboard the orbital workshop to conduct scientific experiments.
"We could see the sun in a way that was simply not possible before, for long periods of time, [at] Ultraviolet rays and X-rays, and look at the crown, look at massive ejections throwing material far into the crown, "said Garriott, referring to his teammates' solar observations, in an oral story from NASA in 2000." this [data] is actually still used for research purposes to make comparisons with some of the most modern satellites, which can do things even better than us. "
Garriott and his teammates Skylab 3 (or Skylab II, depending on the nomenclature chosen) have also been the subject of physiological studies and biomedical monitoring to learn how the human body responds to long durations in microgravity.
"We learned the importance of exercise," Garriott explained. "If you have enough exercise, namely one to two hours a day, you will come back in a condition as good as when you left."
Garriott also made three space trips – two with Lousma and one with Bean – spending nearly 14 hours outside Skylab to exchange film cartridges, retrieve experiences and, at his first Extravehicular activity (EVA), deploy a large sunscreen to compensate for damage that the space station had suffered during its launch.
"The two-pole umbrella was important to bring the temperature to a more permanent temperature of 70, 75, 80 degrees [Fahrenheit, or 21 to 26 degree Celsius] level, "he described.
In addition, Garriott had the unexpected opportunity to test a prototype jetpack inside Skylab. Only Bean and Lousma were trained at the ASMU, the predecessor of the Manned Maneuver Unit (MMU), which was later used on the Space Shuttle, but at the end of the tests. expected, Garriott had the opportunity to try it. a novice.
"I remember Alan had said," Ok, Owen, you're going to go there. " [and he] just let go, "Garriott remembered. [was] surprisingly intuitive. Thanks to a modest training on how to fly a spacecraft equipped with a translation propulsion and attitude control, you can fly … by making turns at any time. "
Garriott, Bean and Lousma landed aboard their Apollo control module on September 25, 1973.
Garriott returned to space a decade later, on November 28, 1983, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as mission specialist for the STS-9 mission crew. The 10-day flight marked the first use of the European Spacelab laboratory module.
"The whole mission was to demonstrate that the Spacelab, the laboratory that was in the cargo hold of the shuttle, was useful for all scientific disciplines," Garriott told NASA. "Thus, not only many biomedical work, but also astronomy, fluid physics, materials processing, atmospheric science, have been represented with different experiences."
Between his mission assignments, Garriott also had time to set another first, based on a license he had obtained as a teenager.
"It was my chance to take the first amateur radio into space," said Garriott. "In my free time only, I managed to hold an antenna at the window and talk to amateurs on Earth."
About 250 radio operators were able to connect with "W5LFL" – Garriott's call sign – thus becoming the first speaker to speak with an astronaut in orbit without the conversation being routed through control loops flight of NASA.
"Once in earth orbit, I could do a CQ, which is a general call, and see who responded," said Garriott. "Among other things, I was able to talk with the radio club in my hometown of Enid, Oklahoma, with my mother, with the senator [Barry] Goldwater and with King Hussein [of Jordan]who was a passionate ham. "
Owen Kay Garriott was born in Enid on November 22, 1930. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1953 and his Master's and Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. Stanford University in 1957 and 1960.
From 1953 to 1956, Garriott was an officer in electronics while on active duty in the US Navy. He then taught electronics, electromagnetic theory and ionospheric physics as an associate professor at Stanford until he was selected by NASA for his fourth group of astronauts.
Prior to flying the Skylab 3, Garriott served as Mission Commander (capcom) in Mission Control for the first Apollo 11 lunar landing mission in July 1969.
"I was on the position of the capcom while they [Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin] were all sleeping for the first night on the moon. So, not a lot of work on that one, but you have to be ready, of course, "Garriott said. You must be ready to deal with almost any emergencies that may arise. So you learned a lot in this role. "
"I hope the Apollo 11 team has been helpful in conducting the flight, and I'm sure it has been helpful in anticipation of the Skylab program," he said. he declares.
After his mission in the Space Shuttle, Garriott was a program scientist at the NASA Space Station Project Office. He collaborated with the scientific community and advised the program management on the design of a new space station.
Garriott left NASA in 1986 following the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy, when he realized that he would have no more chance of flying into the plane. ;space.
"If I had the chance to take the plane by the end of 1986 or 1987, I wanted to stay for another occasion, but when it was obviously going to be delayed by five years, I simply decided that, from a personal point of view, that "it would be better to leave this to someone else," he said.
From 1988 to 1993, Garriott served as vice president of space programs at Teledyne Brown Engineering, which was responsible for integrating the payload for Spacelab missions and played a role in the development of the US International Space Station laboratory. . In 1995, Garriott and his first wife founded the Leonardo Discovery Warehouse, a children's educational entertainment center in Enid.
Later, Garriott joined the Laboratory of Structural Biology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he participated in a research involving microbes returned from extreme environments, such as hydrothermal vents. large funds.
Twenty-five years after his second and final spaceflight, Garriott supported another historic mission – this time from his son Richard. Elder Garriott participated in the design and organization of commercial scientific experiments accompanying his son on a self-financing flight in October 2008 to the International Space Station. Both were also able to connect via an amateur radio.
Owen Garriott has received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Robert J. Collier Trophy and the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy (the latter two shared with his teammates from the Skylab team), among many other honors. He was inducted into the Air and Space Hall of Fame of Oklahoma in 1980 and the Hall of Fame of the American Astronaut in 1997.
Garriott wrote on the first US space station with co-authors Joe Kerwin and David Hitt in "Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story," published in 2008 by University of Nebraska Press.
Garriott was predeceased by his first wife, Helen Mary Walker, with whom he had four children, Randall, Robert, Richard and Linda. He is survived by his wife, Eve Long Garriott.
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