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David Randolph (Dave) Scott Status: Inactive. Trained as: Astronaut. Profession: Pilot. Sex: Male. Marital Status: Married. Children: Two. Birth Date: 06 June 1932. Birth City: San Antonio. Birth State: Texas. Birth Country: USA. Nationality: American. Group: 1963 NASA Group. Date Selected: 17 October 1963. Departed: 1977. Number of Flights: 3. Total Time: 22.79 days. Number of EVAs: 6. Total EVA Time: 19.93 hours.

NAME: David R. Scott

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Scott was born June 6, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas.

EDUCATION: Scott received a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1954, standing fifth in a class of 633, and the degrees of Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1962.

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from the US Military Academy in 1954, he entered the US Air Force. He later graduated from the Experimental Test Pilot School and Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1963. On March 16, 1966 Scott and Neil Armstrong aboard Gemini 8 conducted the first docking in space. But shortly after the Gemini and the Agena docked, the craft began spinning out of control. Armstrong disengaged from the Agena, thinking the problem was on there, but the tumbling worsened. It was later determined that it was one of 16 Gemini thrusters that was stuck. Unable to stop the spin with the main thrusters, Armstrong shut down the Gemini�s reaction control system and brought the craft under control using a second set of 16 thrusters intended only for use on re-entry. Mission Control ordered Armstrong and Scott to cut the flight short and they splashed down in a contingency recovery area in the western Pacific. Scott missed out on his planned space walk.

Scott�s next flight was Apollo 9, a ten day earth orbit test of the first complete set of Apollo hardware. Commander James A. McDivitt and Lunar Module pilot Russell L. Schweickart accompanied Scott on the March 3, 1969 launch. McDivitt and Schweickart took the Lunar Module on its first manned test, flying 182 km away from Scott in the Command Module before flying back to a rendezvous and docking.

Scott was in command of the fourth lunar landing, Apollo 15, launched on July 26, 1971,. He and James B. Irwin flew their Lunar Module to the moon�s surface while Alfred M. Worden waited in the Command Module in lunar orbit. This was the first extended scientific expedition to the moon and the first to use the Lunar Rover. In three separate excursions over three days they explored the most spectacular Apollo landing site, a narrow valley hemmed in on three sides by the 4,500 m Apennine Mountains and on the fourth by a 2 km wide canyon, Hadley Rille. They returned with 77 kg of rocks, having left behind an ALSEP science station for continued monitoring of the lunar environment.

Following the moon flight, Scott held administrative posts with NASA, including Director of the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. He retired from the Air Force in 1975 as a colonel. He was later President of Scott Science and Technology.


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