Excellence in Flight and Space
Monica Davis
www.exceptionalmag.com
Crippen became a NASA astronaut in 1969 and has flown over 6500 hours. He piloted the first
orbital test flight of the Shuttle program (STS-1, April 12-14, 1981) and was the commander of three additional flights. His contributions to the space program are amazing. Crippen spoke to Exceptional People Magazine about some of the extraordinary opportunities he had as an astronaut and the wonderful people like John Young and John Glen with whom he's had the opportunity to work and build friendships.
EPM: As you grew up and went to high school and college, who influenced your decision to become an astronaut?
Crippen: Well, I don't believe anybody. I believe reading did. I was a sophomore in college when Sputnik flew. And, of course, we didn't have any astronauts at that time but I had been reading enough about rockets and the potential for going into space for a long time. And when Sputnik went up in 1957 I was concerned because I had already formulated in my mind that I might like to go in space if that opportunity availed itself.
EPM: Your first mission, as I recall, was with John Young, an experienced astronaut. Were you nervous?
Crippen: Nervous, no. Excited, yes. John certainly was a veteran. He was chief in the astronaut office, and when we were preparing to select who would fly on the first shuttle flight, I thought they would pick another experienced astronaut. For some reason they decided they wanted to give some of us rookies the experience. They ended up picking me and John and I had an opportunity to train for about three years before that flight. I was 28 years old when I was selected to fly on the Manned Orbiting Laboratory and I was 43 years old when John and I lifted off on that first shuttle flight.It was a vehicle I knew but as my friend John Young taught me, he said, "Crip, anytime they're lighting off seven and a half million pounds of thrust under you and you aren't a little bit excited, you don't understand what's going on." But John and I both knew what was going on.
EPM: Of all the times that you've been into space, how did it feel to be there, looking at the world from a different perspective?
Crippen: Oh, it's a really unique opportunity. I wish everybody that has a desire could have an opportunity to see our beautiful spaceship earth from up in orbit. It's a beautiful planet we live on and I think anybody that's had the opportunity to look at it from space knows that we need to take care of it. Having an opportunity to go around the world in an hour and a half and looking out the window and seeing it in its entirety is a unique experience. And the other is being weightless, being able to float around - that's a feeling unlike any other. A lot of people think we can really simulate that here on earth and we can't.
EPM: When you returned from your first flight, what went through your mind as far as the mission and your individual contribution?
Crippen: Well, it was an exciting time, you know. John and I flew in April of 1981. The Apollo Lunar Program had ended in 1972. We flew a space station called Sky Lab for a year in 1973. We only flew one flight between that and the shuttle flight, which was the Apollo Soyuz mission that we did with the Soviet Union in 1975. So when 1981 came along, it had been a long time since man had flown in space. The shuttle was a totally new kind of vehicle. It was the first to be launched with what we call solid rockets. It was the first to have wings and come back and land, similar to an airplane. So we had a large number of objectives that we wanted to accomplish on that first flight to prove that the vehicle would do what we thought it would do. John and I spent about two and a half days on that mission in orbit and the vehicle behaved beautifully. We had a few anomalies, but nothing insurmountable.When we arrived on the ground, both John and I were very excited. John is the type of person who doesn't get excited very often but when we returned, John was really excited. It was it was a big deal for us as individuals and, for the nation.
EPM: You were a former astronaut and also the Kennedy Space Center director. Which of those two positions did you find most challenging?
Crippen: I think the management role was actually tougher. As I mentioned earlier, when we lost the Challenger, I was in a role of trying to facilitate flying again. I ended up sitting in the launch control center where I was, from a management standpoint, given the final go-to-go launch. It's a lot tougher sitting in a management chair than it is sitting in the cockpit, from my perspective.
EPM: How did the loss of the Challenger affect you?
Crippen: Oh Lord, it was a like a blow to the gut. I was good friends with all the crewmembers. It was a vehicle that I believed in and thought that we wouldn't have that kind of an accident after we had gone through the initial test flights. To lose the crew and to lose the vehicle was devastating.
I ended up being signed on as part of the accident investigation team and later made recommendations that we needed some operational people in management. It was a tough time for me personally and everyone working on the program.
EPM: I'm certain that you�€™ve heard there may be more planets and there may be other life in outer space. What do you think about that?
Crippen: Well, all you have to do is see some of the results of the Hubble Space Telescope and realize how many galaxies we know are out there. And there are probably a lot more that we don't know about. All those galaxies have millions of stars in them, and certainly we're not unique in having planets around our stars. We have discovered, with several instruments, including Hubble, there are planets around the other galaxies. And so it just doesn't seem possible to me that with all the magnitude out there, that we're unique. So I think there has to be life out there. I'm not one who believes that we've been visited by it here on earth.
EPM: What is your view and summation of your life, having been an astronaut and director of the Kennedy Space Center?
Crippen: Gee, lucky. I happened to be standing in the right place a few times and that helped me out. I've had a very rewarding life, both professionally and personally. Again, some high points and some low points, but overall when you sum it up, a very lucky guy to have done some of the things that I've done.
