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.

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.

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.