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astronautix.com Pogue


William Reid (Bill) Pogue Status: Inactive. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Three. Birth Date: 23 January 1930. Birth City: Okemah. Birth State: Oklahoma. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1966 NASA Group. Date Selected: 04 April 1966. Departed: 1975. Number of Flights: 1. Total Time: 84.05 days. Number of EVAs: 2. Total EVA Time: 13.57 hours.

NAME: William R. Pogue

BIRTHDATE AND PLACE: Pogue was born January 23, 1930, in Okemah, Oklahoma.

EDUCATION: Pogue received a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1951 and a Master of Science in mathematics from Oklahoma State University in 1960.

EXPERIENCE: Pogue enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 and received an officer�s commission a year later. From 1952 to 1954 he did a combat tour in Korea with the Fifth Air Force, flying fighter-bombers. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of the USAF Thunderbirds precision flying team. He later was an assistant professor in the mathematics department at the Air Force Academy. From 1962 to 1965, following graduation from Britain�s Empire Test Pilots' School, Pogue was a test pilot for the British Ministry of Aviation under a USAF/RAF exchange program. He was an instructor at the Air Force Research Pilot School when NASA selected him as an astronaut in April 1966.

Pogue was Command Module Pilot of Skylab 4 (third and final manned visit to the Skylab Orbital Workshop), launched November 16, 1973, and concluded February 8, 1974. This was the longest manned flight (84 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes) in the history of manned space exploration to date. He was accompanied on the record-setting 34.5-million-mile flight by Commander Gerald Carr and Dr. Edward G. Gibson (science pilot). The crew successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives, and 13 student investigations during their 1,214 revolutions of the earth. They also acquired extensive earth resources observations data using hand-held cameras and Skylab's Earth Resources Experiment Package camera and sensor array. They logged 338 hours of operation of the Apollo Telescope Mount which made extensive observations of the sun's solar processes. Pogue made two space walks during the mission, totaling 13 hours 31 minutes outside the lab. The crew returned with 780 kg of film, data and biological specimens after the record space flight.

Pogue retired from NASA, and from the Air Force, in 1975. He therafter was president of Vutara Services.


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