Front row (L-R): Guy Gardner, Vance Brand, John Lounge
Back row (L-R): Robert Parker, Ronald Parise, Jeffrey Hoffman, Samuel Durrance
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-35), launched December 2, 1990, was devoted to astronomical observations. Its crew consisted of Commander Vance Brand, Pilot Guy Gardner, Jeffrey Hoffman, John Lounge, Robert Parker, Samuel Durrance, and Ronald Parise.
Robert Allan Parker, born December 14, 1936 in New York City, is a veteran of two Space Shuttle flights. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1967 and was a member of the Astronaut Support Crews for Apollo 15 and 17. He was a program scientist for all three Skylab missions.
His first shuttle flight was on Columbia (STS-9) in November-December 1983 as a mission specialist. He traveled with Ulf Merbold, the first ESA and West German in space.
Parker's second and final flights was also on Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990. He retired from NASA in August 2005.
L-R: Owen Garriott, Byron Lichtenberg, Brewster Shaw, John Young, Ulf Merbold, Robert Parker
Mission patch
The sixth mission of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-9), launched November 28, 1983, carried the first Spacelab module into orbit. She carried six astronauts for the first time. Her crew consisted of Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, Missional Specialist Owen Garriott (Okie!), Mission Specialist Robert Parker, Payload Specialist Ulf Merbold, and Payload Specialist Byron Lichtenberg. Merbold was the first non-U.S. citizen, the first West German citizen (remember this was before the Berlin Wall came down), and the first ESA astronaut in space.
Garriott made the first ham radio transmissions from space during the flight. The crew carried out numerous experiments on the effects of low gravity on the human body. See the highlight video below.
Columbia landed December 8, ten days after launch. The crew was looking forward to taking showers since they had not been able to for over a week. What did Columbia smell like on the inside after they landed?
