Space Shuttle astronaut William Lenoir born 1939

William Lenoir, born March 14, 1939 in Miami, Florida, went into space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-5), considered to be the first operational shuttle mission, as mission specialist in November 1982.  He was scheduled to perform an EVA with fellow astronaut  Joseph Allen, but he succumbed to motion sickness.  Then a malfunctioning oxygen regulator caused the spacewalk to be cancelled.

He spent 5 days in space.

Lenoir passed away in August 2010 from head injuries from a bicycle accident.

Robert Overmyer, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1936

Space Shuttle astronaut Robert Overmyer, born July 14, 1936 in Lorain, Ohio, went into space twice.  He became an astronaut in 1969 and served as part of the support crews for the Apollo program, the Skylab program and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

His first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-5) as pilot in November 1982. It was the first officially "operational" shuttle mission.

His second and final was aboard Challenger (STS-51-B) as commander April-May 1985.

Overmyer was testing a plane on March 22, 1996 near Duluth International Airport in Minnesota when his plane crashed. 

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Joe Allen!

Joseph P. Allen, born June 27, 1937 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions.  After obtaining his PhD in Physics from Yale, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA in August 1967 and completed flight training Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma(!).

His first flight was as mission specialist on Columbia (STS-5) in November 1982. He was scheduled to perform a spacewalk with fellow astronaut William Lenoir, but was cancelled when Lenoir got sick.

His second and final mission was on Discovery (STS-51-A) in November 1984 also as mission specialist.  He completed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Dale Gardner, logging almost 11 hours in space.

Happy birthday, Apollo and Space Shuttle astronaut Vance Brand!

Vance D. Brand, born May 9, 1931 in Longmont, Colorado, is a former NASA astronaut, who flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and three Space Shuttle missions.

In July 1975, he was Command Module Pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project with Tom Stafford and Deke Slayton, the first joint mission between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. 

In November 1982, he served as Commander aboard Columbia (STS-5), the first mission to deploy satellites.

His third  trip into space was Commander aboard Challenger (STS-41-B) in February 1984. which featured the first untethered spacewalk  by Bruce McCandless.

His fourth and final mission was aboard Columbia (STS-35) in December 1990.  At the time he  was the oldest person to go into space at 59.

Columbia (STS-5) launched in 1982

The fifth flight of the Super Shuttle program (STS-5) and the fifth flight for Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 11, 1982.  The crew consisted of four members:

Commander Vance Brand
Pilot Robert Overmyer
Specialist 1 Joseph P. Allen
Specialist 2 William B. Lenoir

The crew deployed two commercial communications satellites and planned a space walk.  However, Lenoir got sick and two of the space suits developed problems so the EVA was cancelled.

They returned to Earth November 16.

Space Shuttle Columbia deploying a commercial communications satellite.