— Former NASA astronaut Rick Hauck, who flew on three history-making house shuttle missions, together with the “return to flight” following the Challenger tragedy in 1986, has died on the age of 84.
Hauck’s dying on Thursday (Nov. 6) was famous by the retirement dwelling the place he lived in Maine and by notices from the American House Museum and Astronaut Scholarship Basis in Florida.
“Captain Rick Hauck, a person whose braveness carried him by each chapter of life, from commanding missions in house to bravely going through Parkinson’s illness for greater than 15 years,” wrote the employees at The Heron Home. “Rick was a NASA astronaut, naval officer, physicist, husband and father, however to these of us who had the consideration of understanding him right here, he was one thing much more profound: a person of quiet power and dignity.”
Hauck’s spaceflight profession included a lot of highlights however maybe most outstanding was his command of STS-26, NASA’s first house shuttle launch after the lack of Challenger and its crew.
On the time of the tragedy, Hauck was coaching for his third spaceflight, a mission that had its personal set of security considerations because of together with the first liquid-fuel higher stage rocket designed to be launched within the shuttle’s payload bay. Within the wake of the catastrophe, he supported the restoration by reviewing necessities on the Johnson House Middle in Houston, when Hauck’s subsequent flight modified: as a substitute of deploying a probe to check the solar, he would lead Discovery’s crew on a mission to revive confidence within the U.S. human spaceflight program so it could proceed.
“As an astronaut, there’s nothing I might moderately do than command this subsequent flight,” he advised Jim Fletcher, NASA Administrator on the time, as Hauck recalled for a NASA oral historical past interview in 2003 and 2004.
Collectively along with his crewmates Richard “Dick” Covey, Mike Lounge, David Hilmers and George “Pinky” Nelson, Hauck lifted off with redesigned stable rocket boosters and ofter safety-driven enhancements on Sept. 29, 1988. Throughout the four-day STS-26 mission, the astronauts deployed a Monitoring and Information Relay Satellite tv for pc (TDRS-C) and paid tribute to Challenger’s fallen crew.
“Immediately, up right here the place the blue sky turns to black, we will say in the end, to Dick [Scobee], Mike [Smith], Judy [Resnik], to Ron [McNair] and El[lison Onlzuka], and to Christa [McAuliffe] and to Greg [Jarvis], expensive pals, now we have resumed the journey that we promised to proceed for you. Expensive pals, your loss has meant that we may confidently start anew. Expensive pals, your spirit and your dream are nonetheless alive in our hearts,” Hauck mentioned, concluding his crew’s remarks.
As critical an endeavor because it was, Hauck additionally felt it vital “to have these instances when you may loosen up.”
“Human beings want a certain quantity of smiling and laughing,” he mentioned.
“As soon as we had the weighty points behind us … we determined now’s the time to interrupt out the Hawaiian shirts,” Hauck advised NASA’s historian, referencing a colourful second in the course of the flight. “Then after we got here on over Hawaii, we mentioned, ‘Properly, right here we’re, we have got our Hawaiian shirts on and we’re simply having fun with our day within the solar.’ I feel I then mentioned, ‘Life’s a seaside,’ proper? “Life is a seaside.”
With Hauck at its controls, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Pressure Base in California on Oct. 3, 1988, clearing the best way for the shuttle fleet to renew service.
Hauck was chosen to turn out to be a NASA astronaut in 1978 with the primary 35 candidates chosen for the house shuttle program. His first mission project was as pilot of STS-7, the second flight of Challenger and the first to incorporate an American lady on its crew.
“Sally [Ride] was nice,” mentioned Hauck in his 2003 oral historical past. “She’s a primary skilled; very industrious; at all times fascinated by the goals for the flight; and [had] a superb humorousness; very productive. It was a pleasure.”
Along with Experience, Hauck flew on STS-7 with Bob Crippen, John Fabian and Norm Thagard —the biggest crew to fly aboard a single spacecraft as much as that point. Challenger launched on the six-day mission on June 18, 1983, carrying two communications satellites and an experiment platform to be deployed into Earth orbit (and retrieved within the case of the latter) and, had it not been for poor climate diverting them to California, would have been the primary to land again on the Kennedy House Middle in Florida.
For Hauck, the spotlight of his first flight got here at its begin.
“Looking the window throughout launch and seeing the sky flip from blue to black in a fraction of a second,” he mentioned, describing his most memorable second earlier than noting that Crippen caught him searching the window and reminded him to maintain his “eyes on the cockpit.”
“I suppose that is one factor that stands out in my reminiscence. Every part about it was thrilling.” mentioned Hauck.
Between his first and final flights, Hauck commanded STS-51A. Discovery, launching on its second mission on Nov. 8, 1984, carried two satellites into house and returned to Earth with one other two that, attributable to technical points, had been positioned into the improper orbit on an earlier shuttle flight.
For almost eight days, Hauck, David Walker, Joe Allen, Anna Lee Fisher and Dale Gardner carried out the mission’s targets, together with conducting two spacewalks that featured the final use the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) tetherless jetpacks.
“So, individuals say what was your favourite mission, and every one has its personal points, however this one was revolutionary, it was difficult, it was distinctive,” mentioned Hauck. “it was the primary house salvage in historical past, the place you truly introduced one thing again that was derelict. Everybody labored actually laborious on it. That they had inventive individuals doing inventive issues.”
In whole, Hauck logged 18 days, 3 hours and eight minutes on his three spaceflights, finishing 288 orbits round Earth. He was the 119th particular person to circle our planet and the 126th to enter house in line with the Affiliation of House Explorers’ Registry of House Vacationers.
Frederick Hamilton Hauck was born on April 11, 1941 in Lengthy Seashore, California.
He acquired a bachelor’s diploma in physics from Tufts College in 1962 and a grasp’s of science in nuclear engineering from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Know-how) in 1966. He earned his wings in 1968 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Take a look at Pilot College in 1971.
Hauck flew 114 fight and fight assist missions in Southeast Asia off the service USS Coral Sea and later was the Navy’s lead check pilot for the service suitability of the F-14 Tomcat. He was additionally the operations officer of a service wing flying the A-6, A-7 and F-14 from the deck of the united statesEnterprise.
After his choice by NASA and earlier than his first launch, Hauck devised the format for the emergency procedures guidelines used on the house shuttle. He was then assigned to the assist crews for STS-1 and STS-2, serving in Mission Management as a reentry capcom for each.
Between concluding his work recovering from the Challenger tragedy and coaching for STS-26, Hauck reported to NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the place he was appointed affiliate administrator for exterior relations, advising the NASA Administrator (Fletcher) on congressional, public, worldwide, intergovernmental and academic affairs.
In March 1989, Hauck resigned from NASA and the astronaut workplace and two months later grew to become director of the Navy house techniques division within the Workplace of the Chief of Naval Operations, giving him budgeting accountability for the Navy’s house applications.
Hauck concluded his navy energetic responsibility on June 1,1990 with the rank of captain.
In October 1990, Hauck grew to become president and chief working officer of AXA House (previously INTEC), a subsidiary of the worldwide AXA insurance coverage group, specializing in underwriting insurance coverage for the chance of launching and working satellites. Three years later, he assumed obligations as the corporate’s chief govt officer, a place he held till his retirement on March 31, 2005.
Hauck additionally served on quite a few boards and panels, together with the Affiliation of House Explorers, the Astronaut Scholarship Basis and House Basis, in addition to being a fellow within the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Society of Experimental Take a look at Pilots.
In 2023, Hauck collaborated with Nancy Shohet West to publish his memoirs, “To Mach 25 and Residence.”
Hauck was awarded NASA’s distinguished service, excellent management and house flight medals, in addition to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s (FAI) Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal. In 2001, he was among the many first 4 house shuttle fliers to be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame.
Hauck is survived by his spouse of 34 years, Susan Cameron Bruce; 5 kids: Whitney Hauck-Wooden and Stephen Hauck from his first marriage to Dolly Bowman, Kimberly Holden, Betsy Thompson and Jennifer Holden; and eight grandchildren.
