Happy 66th Birthday to Robert “Hoot” Gibson!
*In addition to serving as pilot and commander of five shuttle missions (STS-41-B, STS-61-C, STS-27, STS-47, and STS-71), Capt. Gibson became a pilot for Southwest Airlines after his retirement from NASA in 1996, and currently competes in air races with vintage aircraft.
11/14/81: “This spectacular shot of the underside of the Space Shuttle Columbia was taken from the primary photo chase plane by astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D. Astronaut Robert Gibson, lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, piloted the T-38…Note the trailing wingtip cortex off each wingtip.”
(via asonlynasacan)
Here’s Rhea Seddon and Hoot Gibson with their newborn son Paul during an interview at JSC, August 1982.
This blog is a tribute to NASA's Group 8 Astronaut Class of 1978. Known as the Thirty-Five New Guys (TFNGs) to the public, these awesome men and women helped to deliver NASA from the Apollo era to the threshold of the International Space Station.
All pictures on this site are courtesy of NASA unless otherwise noted.
