Pittsburgh-Area Astronauts

James B. Irwin *** Judith A. Resnik *** Jay Apt *** Stephen N. Frick *** Mike Fincke

Warren “Woody” Hoburg: Link 1 *** Link 2 *** Link 3

NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher *** NASA Flight Director Heather Rarick

Authored By Glenn A. Walsh
Sponsored By Friends of the Zeiss

Electronic Mail: < Pghastronauts@planetarium.cc >
This Internet Web Page: < https://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/bio/Pghastronauts.html >
Internet Web Cover Page: < http://www.planetarium.cc >

Internet Web Site Master Index for the History of
The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, Pittsburgh

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James B. Irwin

(1930 to 1991)

Eighth Man (of twelve) to Walk on the Moon !

During his entire time in Pittsburgh, he and his family attended [most of the time by walking a mile or more] Holy Trinity Lutheran Church on Beechview Avenue, at the edge of the Beechview business district. Although later moving out-of-state, he and his family kept in touch with their friends in Pittsburgh (including the author's grandparents, Louis J. and Margaret M. Alsnauer and mother, Eleanor Walsh Perrine) by mail and occasional visits, including the visit to a church picnic sponsored by the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in 1947.

Mr. Irwin's father worked as a steamfitter running the power plant at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Institute, and Mr. Irwin was always enthralled with the Institute's world-class collection of dinosaur skeletons. "Some of my earliest memories are of waiting for Dad in this tremendous place," Mr. Irwin wrote in his autobiography, To Rule the Night. In this autobiography, he also wrote how his imagination was stirred, by his visits to Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science.

Mr. Irwin was selected for the NASA astronaut program on 1966 April 4, an accomplishment that was a source of pride for his former neighbors in Beechview. Along with David R. Scott, mission commanding officer, Mr. Irwin flew as Lunar Module Pilot in Apollo 15, the fourth successful mission to land men on the Moon. Launch of Apollo 15, from Cape Canaveral, occurred on 1971 July 26. Splashdown was on 1971 August 7, when the Command Module, Endeavor, dropped into the Pacific Ocean about 320 miles south of Hawaii. Mr. Irwin and Mr. Scott landed on the Moon, in the Hadley Rille/Apennines Mountains region, on 1971 July 29 and remained until launch of the upper section of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) on 1971 August 2.

Apollo 15 was the first mission to use a " Lunar Rover," a specially-designed, electric automobile for transport on the lunar surface. The excursions using the Lunar Rover allowed the Apollo 15 astronauts to go much further away from the landing craft, than had astronauts on previous landing missions. However, the Lunar Rover excursions did not exceed a distance, from which the astronauts could have walked back to the Lunar Module had the Lunar Rover become inoperable.

During Mr. Irwin's Apollo 15 space mission, when he became the eighth man [of twelve Apollo astronauts] to walk on the Moon, Mr. Irwin had a religious awakening from the Moon-walk experience. After leaving NASA, he founded the High Flight Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to sharing Mr. Irwin's faith in God through speaking engagements, publications and retreats. Later in life, he traveled several times to Mount Ararat in Turkey, in an attempt to find Noah's Arc.

James Irwin died of a heart attack on 1991 August 8 in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the first of the twelve Moon-walking astronauts to die.

For more biographical information about James B. Irwin, go to the following links:

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Judith A. Resnik

(1949 to 1986)

Space Shuttle Astronaut

Judith Resnik was born in the Pittsburgh Tri-State Area community of Akron, Ohio (92 miles northwest of Pittsburgh) on 1949 April 5. She graduated from Firestone High School in Akron in 1966.

She then attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where she acquired a Bachelors of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1970. Ms. Resnik was employed as a Design Engineer with RCA in New Jersey and in Virginia from 1970 to 1974; her work included engineering support for NASA sounding rocket and telemetry systems programs. From 1974 to 1977 she was employed as a Biomedical Engineer and Staff Fellow in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She received a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1977.

Dr. Resnik was a Senior Systems Engineer in product development with Xerox Corporation at El Segundo California just prior to her selection as a NASA Astronaut in 1978. She was offered a position on Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Electrical Engineering faculty shortly before deciding to join NASA, according to CMU Provost Angel Jordan, in a report in The Pittsburgh Press on 1986 January 28. In the news report, Dr. Jordan went on to say, "Had she come back to CMU, I'm sure she would now be recognized as a prominent member of the faculty. She was an outstanding student and scientist."

Dr. Jordan (who had been invited to go to Cape Canaveral in 1986 to watch the Challenger launch, but had to cancel the trip due to an important meeting at CMU's Software Engineering Institute) called Dr. Resnik one of his outstanding students in the late 1960s. He recalled that she asked his advice, regarding her considering employment in the Space Program. "She asked me if I thought it was a good idea," he said. "I told her it was marvelous idea. She was brilliant and a very good scientist." Dr. Jordan was so impressed with her ability that he appointed her the first chairwoman of a student advisory committee he established, while he was Director of CMU's Electrical Engineering Department.

Shortly after her selection as an Astronaut candidate in 1978, she told The Pittsburgh Press that she had no fear about embarking on her first Space Shuttle mission. She said, "By the time we go up, we will know so much about every contingency and we will have practiced so much that we will be trained to act automatically if something goes wrong.

Dr. Resnik's first flight into space was as a Mission Specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Discovery's maiden flight), Mission STS 41-D, on 1984 August 30. With her six crew mates, she logged 144 hours and 57 minutes in space, during the seven-day mission. This mission included several successful experiments including the OAST-l solar cell wing experiment, the CFES-III experiment, the student crystal growth experiment, and photography experiments using the IMAX motion picture camera. Three satellites were also deployed during the mission and the Remote Manipulator System was successfully used to hazardous ice particles from the Discovery Orbiter (earning the crew the nickname, "Icebusters").

Dr. Resnik was also selected as a Mission Specialist for the STS 51-L mission aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. After several delays, Challenger launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 1986 January 28 at 11:38:00 a.m. EST. She died, along with the other six crew members, when the spacecraft exploded one minute and thirteen seconds after lift-off.

For more biographical information about Judith Resnik, go to the following links:

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Jay Apt

Space Shuttle Astronaut

During his childhood, he visited Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science many times. This included attendance in Buhl Science classes, including Rocketry, and participation in the annual Pittsburgh Regional School Science and Engineering Fair. Dr. Apt credits his childhood visits to Buhl Planetarium as sparking his interest to become an astronaut. In Buhl Planetarium's 50th anniversary (1989) book titled, "Lives Touched...Worlds Changed," Fifty Years of Alumni Achievements, Dr. Apt wrote: "Buhl classes are probably the best preparation for a technical career I can imagine."

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dr. Apt addressed Pittsburgh audiences several times. This included speaking to students at Buhl Planetarium, and his participation in a special educational program sponsored by Duquesne University. Many people considered his talks very inspiring. One mother, of a child who attended one of Dr. Apt's addresses, later telephoned Buhl Planetarium to emphasize how inspiring to children Dr. Apt's address was.

Prior to his first Space Shuttle mission in April of 1991 (STS-37 in Space Shuttle Atlantis, which included deployment of the Gamma Ray Observatory satellite), the staff of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (then called Buhl Science Center) prepared a special banner, which accompanied Dr. Apt on this Space Shuttle mission. This banner is now displayed on the second floor of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center, across the hall from the new Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium.

In 1995, Dr. Apt was asked to help in the grass-roots effort to preserve Buhl Planetarium's historic Zeiss II Planetarium Projector and 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope in Pittsburgh. At the time, The Carnegie Science Center proposed selling the Zeiss II Projector and Siderostat Telescope to a college in central Texas, which planned to simply display them as antique artifacts (the college had no plans to actually use the historic equipment). In a telephone response, Dr. Apt indicated that his government position did not permit him to take sides in any issue considered controversial. In May of 1995, Pittsburgh City Council (the City of Pittsburgh is legal owner of the two historic pieces of astronomical equipment), after a special public hearing, did not permit the sale of the artifacts to proceed.

In addition to the 1991 Space Shuttle flight, Dr. Apt was part of the crew on the flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-47, Spacelab-J) in September of 1992, flight of Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-59, the first flight of the Space Radar Laboratory) in April of 1994, and Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-79, which docked with the Russian Mir space station) in September of 1996. In late May of 1997, Dr. Apt left NASA to become Director of The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Today, Dr. Apt is employed with Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon Univerity as a Distinguished Service Professor in the Engineering and Public Policy Department of the College of Engineering, Associate Research Professor in the Tepper School of Business, and Executive Director of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center.

For more biographical information about Jay Apt, go to the following links:

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Stephen N. Frick

Space Shuttle Astronaut

In 1982, U.S. Navy Commander Stephen N. Frick graduated from Richland High School (now Pine-Richland High School) in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, a suburb about 15 miles north of Pittsburgh. He was inspired to enter the astronaut corp after childhood visits to Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science and seeing the night sky portrayed by Buhl's historic Zeiss II Planetarium Projector.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1986 and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1994.

Upon graduation from the Naval Academy in May of 1986, Mr. Frick was commissioned. He was designated a Naval Aviator in 1988 February. Following training at the Strike Fighter Squadron 106 at Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Florida, he was deployed to the USS Saratoga (CV-60), in the Mediterranean Sea and Red Seas. During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he flew 26 combat missions from the Red Sea to targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

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Mike Fincke

International Space Station Astronaut

During his childhood, he visited Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science many times. This included attendance in Buhl Science classes, including Rocketry. Francis G. Graham, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Kent State University, was a Planetarium Lecturer at Buhl Planetarium as well as one of Mike Fincke's Buhl Science classes teachers in the early 1980s, when Mr. Fincke attended Sewickley Academy. Mr. Fincke credits his childhood visits to Buhl Planetarium as sparking his interest to become an astronaut. On the evening of 2005 February 16 in a public address at Sewickley Academy, he used a laser pointer to show the location of the original Buhl Planetarium on a photograph of the Pittsburgh area he had taken from the International Space Station. He told the audience that Pittsburgh was very fortunate to have such a wonderful facility for the education of children. The following evening, after a public address at Avonworth High School, he told the author that he supports the designation of the original Buhl Planetarium as a historic landmark.

Mr. Fincke's first space mission came sooner than expected, when NASA astronaut crew assignments were modified. He and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Ivanovich Padalka were launched aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft, on 2004 April 18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on 2004 April 21 and settled-in for a six-month science mission as Expedition 9. Russian space vehicles were used to ferry crew members and supplies to and from the International Space Station, following the deadly explosion of Space Shuttle Columbia, during its reentry into the atmosphere on 2003 February 1.

Due to the unexpected change in International Space Station assignments, Mike Fincke's second child, a daughter named Tarali, was born 2004 June 18 while Mr. Fincke was at the International Space Station. During a school visit on 2005 February 16, Mr. Fincke told Sewickley Academy pupils, "I spoke to my wife on a satellite phone hookup while she was having the baby." Mr. Fincke and his wife had expected that Mr. Fincke would be home for the birth, since he was not originally scheduled to go into space until later on. So, Mr. Fincke now has the distinction of being the first astronaut to have his child born on Earth, while he is in space.

The Expedition 9 crew took command of the International Space Station, on 2004 April 29, when the Expedition 8 crew, Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, left the Station. European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Andr¨¦ Kuipers, who had accompanied the Expedition 9 crew to the Station, departed with the Expedition 8 crew.

The Expedition 9 crew participated in four spacewalks: 2004 June 24 (14 minutes, 22 seconds), June 29 (5 hours, 40 minutes), August 3 (4 hours, 30 minutes), and September 3 (5 hours, 20 minutes). The first spacewalk was cut short, due to a pressure problem with the prime oxygen tank in Mr. Fincke's spacesuit. In the second spacewalk, the two astronauts replaced a Remote Power Controller (RPCM) that failed in late April, causing a loss of power in Control Moment Gyroscope No. 2 (CMG 2)--one of four gyroscopes that control the orientation of the International Space Station. On the third and fourth spacewalks, the crew members replaced several pieces of equipment and a few science experiments on the outside of the Station.

On 2004 September 22, Mike Fincke spoke to 900 students at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center, through a 17-minute video downlink from the International Space Station. He and his Russian colleague Gennady Padalka answered questions from 16 students, in the Science Center's Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium, during this time period.

Expedition 9 crew returned to Kazakhstan in the early morning hours (Asian time) of 2004 October 24. By coincidence, this date also marked the 65th anniversary of The Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science!

On 2005 May 13, Mike Fincke became only the second person who has actually lived in outer space, to appear on the popular series of science fiction television series and motion pictures called Star Trek. On that Friday evening, Mr. Fincke appeared in the series finale episode ( part of a two-episode finale, both episodes aired that evening; Mr. Fincke was in the second of these two episodes and the very-last episode of the series), "These Are the Voyages...", of the four-year UPN (United Paramount Network) television series, Star Trek: Enterprise. In the episode, Mr. Fincke has a short walk-on part as a Star Fleet (NX-01) engineer. Mr. Fincke has two short lines in the show (at 20 minutes into the show), when he talks to Chief Engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker III about the ship's engines.

Here are links to other information about the Star Trek: Enterprise series finale, "These Are the Voyages...":

For more biographical information about Mike Fincke, go to the following links:

He held research and teaching postions at Harvard and Princeton Universities before going into private industry in 1948. He first joined Hughes Aircraft. He then worked at the Guided Missile Division of the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation. In 1958, he co-founded the Space Electronics Corporation in Glendale, California; this company became Space General Corporation after a merger. And, still later he became vice president of the Aerojet General Corporation in Sacramento, California.

In 1964 he returned to academia as President of the University of Utah. He maintained this position until his first tenure as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1971 April 27 through 1977 May 1.

During his first tenure as NASA Administrator, Dr. Fletcher was responsible for starting the effort to produce the Space Shuttle. He was responsible for the Viking missions to the Planet Mars, the Voyager interplanetary probes, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and oversaw the Skylab missions. He also approved the Hubble Space Telescope program.

When Dr. Fletcher left NASA in 1977, he joined the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh and also served as an independent consultant in suburban Washington, D.C. (McLean, Virginia). He was a leading advisor to key national leaders on space policy matters, and he served on an advisory board involved in developing U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Stategic Defense Initiative (sometimes referred to as "Star Wars").

Following the Challenger tragedy, on 1986 January 28, Dr. Fletcher was asked to return as NASA Administrator. He did return as NASA Administrator on 1986 May 12, serving until 1989 April 8. During his second tenure, he managed the effort to recover from the Challenger accident and return the Space Shuttle to flight, which occurred on 1988 September 29. Dr. Fletcher made sure that safety and reliability systems on the Space Shuttle received much greater resources, oversaw a complete reworking of the Space Shuttle's safety components, and added an egress system for astronauts. He also made organizational changes to improve efficiency, and restructured its management system.

When Dr. Fletcher left NASA in 1989, he returned to the faculty of the School of Engineering of the University of Pittsburgh. The author met with Dr. Fletcher once at his University of Pittsburgh office, to ask if Dr. Fletcher could speak at a special event at Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium. Unfortunately, the event was to occur on the same weekend that Dr. Fletcher was scheduled to attend his son's graduation, at an out-of-town college, so he was not able to speak at the Buhl Planetarium event.

Dr. Fletcher died of lung cancer at his suburban Washington home on 1991 December 22.

She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University in 1987 and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Houston-Clear Lake in 1992.

Her career began in 1987 at Rockwell Space Operations Company in Houston (at that time, the headquarters of corporate parent Rockwell International was based on the 50th floor of the U.S. Steel Building in Pittsburgh). She began as an ascent flight design engineer for NASA's Space Shuttle. This included a NASA Mission Control support role as a targeting operator for shuttle launch and ascents. Ms. Rarick then went to work for the United Space Alliance, employed as a project manager for their chief information officer.

In 1999, she was employed in the International Liaison Office for Mission Control as the operations lead and Russian interface officer. In 2001, Ms. Rarick was employed with NASA in the same capacity; she, then, also took on the technical lead for the Russian interface officers. In 2003, she became chairperson of the Russian Joint Operations Panel, which works upcoming events and addresses long-term resolution of U.S./Russian operational issues.

On 2006 June 14, NASA selected Ms. Rarick as one of the two new Flight Directors; the other new Flight Director chosen was Ron Spencer, a native of Decatur, Illinois. Including those in training, NASA employs 28 active Flight Directors. NASA has employed 69 Flight Directors in the space agency's history.

The Flight Director is in full control of Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston during a space mission, makes all final decisions, and is responsible for every detail; Flight Directors must know the complete operation of the space vehicle used for their assigned mission. The Flight Director supervises Space Controllers, who provide the information for the Flight Director's decisions. Each mission has a Lead Flight Director; there is also a Flight Director on-duty for each shift. Often, Flight Directors later enter top management positions with the space agency.

Ms. Rarick told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that she vividly remembers being fascinated, at age 4, as she watched a black-and-white television image of the Apollo 11 launch, which landed men on the Moon for the first time on 1969 July 20. She told a reporter with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that she decided to seek the Flight Director position in 1988, after her first visit to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

As Flight Director, Ms. Rarick will manage human space flights from Houston's Mission Control, including flights of the Space Shuttle, expeditions to the International Space Station, and eventually missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

2006 July