Discovery (STS-51-D) launched 1985

STS-51-D crew

Front row (L-R): Karol Bobko, Donald Williams, Rhea Seddon, Jeffrey Hoffman

Last row (L-R): David Griggs, Charles Walker, Edwin Garn

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-51-D), launched April 12, 1985, was the fourth flight of Discovery.  Its crew consisted of Commander Karol Bobko, Pilot Donald Williams, Rhea Seddon, David Griggs, Jeffrey Hoffman, Charles Walker, and Senator Edwin Garn of Utah.

Hoffman and Griggs conducted an EVA on April 16 for just over 3 hours.  Griggs also performed tricks with a yo-yo to see how "Toys in Space" reacted to microgravity.  He successfully comppleted the flying saucer and around-the-moon, but the sleeper trick did not work without normal gravity.

The crew returned to Earth April 19 and a tire blew out upon landing, causing extensive damage to the brakes.

Discovery (STS-33) launched 1989

STS-33 crew

Front row (L-R): Kathryn Thornton, Frederick Gregory, Story Musgrave

Back row (L-R): Manley Carter, John Blaha

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-33), launched November 22, 1989, carried a payload for the Department of Defense into space.  Its crew consisted of Commander Frederick Gregory, Pilot John Blaha, Manley Carter, Story Musgrave and Kathryn Thornton.

David Griggs was training to be pilot on this mission but was killed while flying a vintage WWII aircraft.

They deployed a single satellite, suspected to eavesdrop on communist countries.  They returned to Earth November 28.

Space Shuttle astronaut David Griggs born 1939

David Griggs, born September 7, 1939 in Portland, Oregon, went into space aboard Discovery (STS-51-D) as mission specialist in April 1985.  He and fellow astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman conducted an unscheduled EVA (the first in NASA history).

Griggs passed away in June 1989 when the vintage World War II-era training aircraft he was piloting crashed near Earle, Arkansas.