American astronaut and politician (born 1936)
Jack Robert Lousma
(born February 29, 1936) is an American
astronaut
,
aeronautical engineer
, retired
United States Marine Corps officer
, former
naval aviator
,
NASA
astronaut
, and politician. He was a member of the second crew,
Skylab-3
, on the
Skylab
space station
in 1973. In 1982, he commanded
STS-3
, the third
Space Shuttle
mission. Lousma was inducted into the
United States Astronaut Hall of Fame
in 1997. He is the last living crew member of both of his spaceflights.
Lousma later was the
Republican Party
nominee for a seat in the
United States Senate
from
Michigan
in
1984
, losing to incumbent
Carl Levin
, who won his second of six terms.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Lousma was born in
Grand Rapids, Michigan
, on February 29, 1936.
[1]
He is of Dutch (
Frisian
) descent.
[2]
His father's name was spelled Louwsma, but he kept the 'w' off of his son's birth certificate to make the name easier to spell.
[3]
He graduated from Angell Elementary School,
Tappan Middle School
, and
Pioneer High School
in
Ann Arbor, Michigan
in 1954.
[4]
Lousma was a
Boy Scout
and earned the rank of
Tenderfoot Scout
.
[5]
Lousma received a
Bachelor of Science
degree in
aeronautical engineering
from the
University of Michigan
in 1959.
[6]
He played on the
football team
as a backup
quarterback
until an elbow injury ended his career.
[2]
He earned a
Master of Science
degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S.
Naval Postgraduate School
in 1965.
[7]
Military service
[
edit
]
Lousma became a
United States Marine Corps
officer in 1959, and he received his
aviator wings
in 1960 after completing training at the
Naval Air Training Command
. He was then assigned to
VMA-224
,
2nd Marine Aircraft Wing
(2nd MAW), as an attack pilot, and he later served with VMA-224,
1st Marine Air Wing
, at
Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni
,
Japan
. He was a reconnaissance pilot with
VMCJ-2
, 2nd MAW, at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
,
North Carolina
, before being assigned to the
Manned Spacecraft Center
in
Houston
,
Texas
.
[7]
He has logged 7,000 hours of flight time; including 700 hours in
general aviation
aircraft, 1,619 hours in space, 4,500 hours in
jet aircraft
, and 240 hours in
helicopters
.
[8]
NASA career
[
edit
]
Lousma was one of the 19 astronauts selected in
NASA Astronaut Group 5
in April 1966.
[9]
He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the
Apollo 9
,
10
, and
13
missions.
[2]
He was the
CAPCOM
recipient of the "
Houston, we've had a problem
" message from
Apollo 13
.
[10]
He might have also been selected as lunar module pilot for
Apollo 20
, which was canceled.
[11]
He was the pilot for Skylab-3 from July 28 to September 25, 1973, and was commander on STS-3, from March 22 until March 30, 1982, logging a total of over 1,619 hours in space.
[12]
Lousma also spent 11 hours on two
spacewalks
outside the Skylab space station. He served as backup docking module pilot of the United States flight crew for the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
mission, which was completed successfully in July 1975.
[2]
Spaceflight experience
[
edit
]
The crew on this 59½ day flight included
Alan Bean
(spacecraft commander), Lousma (pilot), and
Owen K. Garriott
, who acted as a science-pilot. The crew installed six replacement rate
gyroscopes
used for
attitude control
of the spacecraft and a twin-pole
sunshade
used for
thermal control
, and they repaired nine major experiment or operational equipment items. Skylab-3 accomplished all its mission goals while completing 858 revolutions of the
Earth
, and traveling some 39,300,000 km (24,400,000 mi) in orbit. They devoted 305 man-hours to extensive solar observations from above the atmosphere, which included viewing two major
solar flares
and numerous smaller flares and
coronal transients
. Also acquired and returned to Earth were 16,000 photographs and 29 km (18 mi) of
magnetic tape
documenting Earth resources observations. The crew completed 333 medical experiment performances and obtained valuable data on the effects of extended
weightlessness
on humans. Skylab-3 ended with a
Pacific Ocean
splashdown
and recovery by
USS
New Orleans
.
[8]
Lousma was originally selected as the pilot of the two-man crew of
STS-2
, alongside commander
Fred Haise
. This was a planned mission scheduled to launch in mid-1979, which was intended to use the
Teleoperator Retrieval System
to boost the orbit of Skylab, to allow for the space station's potential further use. This mission was eventually scrubbed, owing to the delays in getting the Shuttle system ready for flight.
[13]
As a result, following Haise's decision to leave NASA, Lousma was named as commander of STS-3.
STS-3, the third orbital test flight of Space Shuttle
Columbia
, launched from the
Kennedy Space Center
,
Florida
, on March 22, 1982, into a 290 km (180 mi) circular orbit above the Earth. Lousma was the spacecraft commander and
C. Gordon Fullerton
was the pilot on this eight-day mission. Major flight test objectives included exposing
Columbia
to extremes in thermal stress and the first use of the 15 m (49 ft)
Remote Manipulator System
(RMS) to grapple and maneuver a
Payload
in space. The crew also operated several scientific experiments in the orbiter's cabin and on the OSS-1 pallet in the payload bay.
Columbia
responded favorably to the thermal tests and was found to be better than expected as a scientific platform. The crew accomplished almost all the mission objectives assigned, and after a one-day delay due to bad weather, landed on the lake bed at
White Sands, New Mexico
, on March 30, 1982, the only shuttle flight to land there.
Columbia
traveled 5,500,000 km (3,400,000 mi) during 129.9 orbits and mission duration was 192 hours, 4 minutes, 49 seconds. Lousma left NASA on October 1, 1983, and retired from the Marine Corps on November 1, 1983.
[14]
Political experience
[
edit
]
A Republican, Lousma lost the 1984 United States Senate election in Michigan against incumbent Carl Levin, receiving 47% of the vote.
[15]
The
astronaut-politician
survived a bitter primary fight against former Republican congressman
Jim Dunn
to capture the nomination with 63% of the vote.
Ronald Reagan
's landslide re-election was a boon to Lousma, but he was hurt late in the campaign when video surfaced of him telling a group of Japanese auto manufacturers that his family owned a
Toyota
car.
[16]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Lousma and Gratia Kay were married in 1956. They have four children. A long-time resident of Scio Township, near Ann Arbor, Michigan, he moved with his wife to
Texas
in September 2013.
[4]
Awards and honors
[
edit
]
Lousma was awarded the
Johnson Space Center
Certificate of Commendation (1970);
[17]
the
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
(1973);
[17]
presented the
Navy Distinguished Service Medal
[17]
and
Navy Astronaut Wings
(1974),
[17]
the City of Chicago Gold Medal (1974),
[18]
the Marine Corps Aviation Association's Exceptional Achievement Award (1974),
[8]
the
Federation Aeronautique Internationale
awarded him the
V. M. Komarov
Diploma for 1973,
[8]
the
AIAA
Octave Chanute Award
for 1975,
[19]
the
AAS
Flight Achievement Award for 1974; inducted into a second
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
(1982),
[8]
the
Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal
(1982),
[17]
NCAA
Silver Anniversary Award (1983).
[8]
The three Skylab astronaut crews were awarded the 1973
Robert J. Collier Trophy
"For proving beyond question the value of man in future explorations of space and the production of data of benefit to all the people on Earth".
[20]
[21]
Gerald P. Carr
accepted the 1975
Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy
from
President Ford
, awarded to the Skylab astronauts.
[22]
Lousma was inducted with Fullerton into the
International Space Hall of Fame
during a ceremony with the governor of New Mexico in 1982 for their involvement in the STS-3 mission.
[23]
The governor also presented them with the International Space Hall of Fame's Pioneer Award, and were the second group to receive this award.
[24]
He was inducted the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame in 1989.
[25]
He was one of 24 Apollo astronauts who were inducted into the
U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
in 1997.
[26]
He was presented an honorary doctorate of astronautical science from the
University of Michigan
in 1973,
[27]
an honorary
D.Sc.
from
Hope College
in 1982,
[28]
an honorary D.Sc. in
business administration
from
Cleary College
in 1986, and an honorary doctorate from
Sterling College
in 1988.
[10]
Lousma has a closed-end street (Lousma Drive) named after him in
Wyoming
, Michigan (suburb of Grand Rapids) that begins west off of
Roger B. Chaffee
Memorial Blvd just south of 32nd Street SE, in an industrial park area.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Jack R. Lousma"
. New Mexico Museum of Space History
. Retrieved
September 5,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Nichols, Bruce (March 13, 1982).
"Shuttle pilots took different routes to current assignment"
.
United Press International
.
- ^
"Lousma Call Last 20 Years His Training for This Flight"
.
News-Press
. Fort Myers, Florida. New York Times Service. March 23, 1982. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
a
b
"The Lousmas Say Good-bye",
Ann Arbor Observer
: 15, October 2013
- ^
"Scouting and Space Exploration"
. Archived from
the original
on March 3, 2016.
- ^
Jackson, Luther (February 10, 1985).
"Lousma Takes on New Mission as Consultant"
.
Detroit Free Press
. Detroit, Michigan. p. 4F – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
a
b
Reid, Bernie (March 18, 1968).
"Astronaut Enters Pro-Am Tourneys"
.
The Pensacola News
. Pensacola, Florida. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Lousma's NASA Biography"
(PDF)
. NASA. February 1999
. Retrieved
January 5,
2022
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Cherry Point Marine is Astronaut"
.
The High Point Enterprise
. High Point, North Carolina. Associated Press. April 5, 1966. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
a
b
Meyer, Zlati (February 27, 2016).
"29 Things You Didn't Know About Leap Day Baby Jack Lousma"
.
Detroit Free Press
. Detroit, Michigan. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Apollo 18 through 20 ? The Cancelled Missions"
. NASA
. Retrieved
February 5,
2019
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Astronaut Jack Lousma Will Speak at Artrain Dinner Friday"
.
Livingston County Daily Press and Argus
. Howell, Michigan. September 2, 2001. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Carney, Emily (May 14, 2017).
"The Last Hurrah: Skylab's 1978-1979 Unmanned Mission"
. National Space Society
. Retrieved
March 9,
2021
.
- ^
Lawrence, John (September 28, 1983).
"Lousma Retirement"
(PDF)
. NASA News. p. 137
. Retrieved
July 17,
2013
.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
public domain
.
- ^
"Moral Majority Had Big Impact in Michigan Race, Falwell Says"
.
Lancing State Journal
. Lancing, Michigan. Associated Press. November 9, 1984. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Levin for the Senate"
.
The Michigan Daily
. November 2, 1984. p. 4
. Retrieved
July 17,
2013
.
"Lousma, on the other hand, recently confided to a meeting of Japanese business leaders that he owns a Toyota".
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Lutz, Ralph (March 5, 1984).
"Jack Lousma Makes His First Campaign Trip to Twin Cities"
.
The Herald-Palladium
. Saint Joseph, Michigan. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Chicagoans Host Nine Astronauts"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
. Orlando, Florida. March 27, 1974. p. 13-A – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Chanute Flight Test Award Recipients"
. AIAA. Archived from
the original
on June 12, 2018
. Retrieved
May 28,
2018
.
- ^
"Collier 1970?1979 Recipients"
. Retrieved
February 9,
2019
.
- ^
"Collier Trophy at Test Range"
.
The Orlando Sentinel
. Orlando, Florida. October 3, 1974. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"For Praises Astronauts, Space Program"
.
Daily Press
. Newport News. United Press International. April 12, 1975. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Far Out Honor"
.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
. Honolulu, Hawaii. Associated Press. May 19, 1982. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Astronauts to be Inducted into the Space Hall of Fame"
.
Carlsbad Current-Argus
. Carlsbad, New Mexico. Associated Press. March 26, 1982. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Enshrinees"
. Air Zoo
. Retrieved
February 4,
2019
.
- ^
Meyer, Marilyn (October 2, 1997).
"Ceremony to Honor Astronauts"
.
Florida Today
. Cocoa, Florida. p. 2B – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
Schaller, Hank (December 22, 1973).
"Astronaut Tells Skylab Story on Imlay City Visit"
.
The Times Herald
. Port Huron, Michigan. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^
"Honorary Degrees"
. Hope College. Archived from
the original
on July 18, 2019
. Retrieved
February 5,
2019
.
External links
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Flights
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Astronauts
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Skylab 3
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Skylab 4
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People
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