| The Scientists | |
|---|---|
 Group 4 astronauts (including missions). Back row, left to right: Garriott (Skylab), Gibson (Skylab). Front row, left to right: Michel (n/a), Schmitt (Apollo), Kerwin (Skylab). Not pictured: Graveline (n/a) | |
| Year selected | 1965 |
| Number selected | 6 |
← 3 (1963) 5 (1966) → | |
NASA Astronaut Group 4 (nicknamed "The Scientists") was a group of six astronauts selected byNASA in June 1965. While theastronauts of the first two groups were required to have an undergraduate degree or the professional equivalent in engineering or the sciences (with several holding advanced degrees), they were chosen for their experience astest pilots. Test pilot experience was waived as a requirement for the third group, and military jet fighter aircraft experience could be substituted. Group 4 was the first chosen on the basis of research and academic experience — aPh.D. (or otherdoctorate) in the natural sciences, engineering, or medicine was a prerequisite for selection — with NASA providing pilot training as necessary. Initial screening of applicants was conducted by theNational Academy of Sciences.
Of the six ultimately chosen, four had military experience. Schmitt, ageologist, walked on the Moon duringApollo 17, while Garriott, Gibson, and Kerwin all flew toSkylab. Garriott also flew on theSpace Shuttle. Graveline and Michel left NASA without having flown in space.
The launch of theSputnik 1 satellite by theSoviet Union on October 4, 1957, started aCold War technological and ideological competition with the United States known as theSpace Race. The demonstration of American technological inferiority came as a profound shock to the American public.[1] In response to theSputnik crisis, although he did not see Sputnik as a grave threat,[2] thePresident of the United States,Dwight D. Eisenhower, created a new civilian agency, theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to oversee an American space program.[3] In doing so, he sought to emphasise the scientific nature of the American space program and downplay its military aspects.[2]
In response to pressure fromCongress to match and surpass Soviet achievements in space,[4] NASA created an American crewed spaceflight project calledProject Mercury.[5] Project Mercury attracted criticism from the scientific community, who preferred a more methodical approach to space science.[4] With the replacement of Eisenhower byJohn F. Kennedy in 1961, aPresident's Science Advisory Committee panel headed byDonald Hornig was charged with reporting on Project Mercury. NASA feared that space exploration would be turned over to theDepartment of Defense, but found support for an expanded scientific space program from the Space Science Board of theNational Academy of Sciences (NAS).[6] At its meeting on February 10–11, 1961, the Space Science Board adopted a formal resolution to support crewed space exploration.[7]
Confidence that the United States was catching up with the Soviet Union was shattered on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet Union launchedVostok 1, andcosmonautYuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. In response, Kennedy announced a far more ambitious goal on May 25, 1961: to put a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.[8] This already had a name:Project Apollo.[9] Over the next few years, space science would constitute up to 20 percent of NASA's budget, but it would be dwarfed by spending on Project Apollo.[10] NASA asked the Space Board to conduct a review of the space program, and this was done at theState University of Iowa between June 17 and July 31, 1962. The study recommended that scientists be included in the astronaut program, and that a scientist be included in the first mission to the Moon.[11]
Robert B. Voas, NASA's Assistant Director for Human Factors, drew up a proposal for the selection and training of scientists as astronauts, which he submitted in draft form on May 6, 1963. He pointed out the value in getting the support of the scientific community at a time when NASA's budget faced opposition in Congress. NASA officially announced an intention to recruit scientists as astronauts on June 5, 1963.[12] On October 1, 1964, NASA announced that it was recruiting scientist astronauts as well as another intake of pilot astronauts.[13]
Key selection criteria were that candidates:
The height requirement was firm, an artifact of the size of the Apollo spacecraft. Candidates had to have copies of their academic transcripts from each university they had attended, along withEducational Testing Service scores and medical history were sent directly to the Astronaut Selection Board of the NAS by December 31, 1964, along with medical examination results. In addition, they could send supporting materials, which might include papers they had written, research they had conducted, or simply their thoughts about space science. They also had to be able to pass a Class I Military Flight Status Physical. This required 20/20 uncorrected vision. The helmets astronauts wore could not accommodate glasses, and contact lenses were considered to be unsuitable in space.[14]
A total of 1,351 applications were received by the deadline. About 200 of these were rejected for failing to meet the basic age, citizenship, height or vision criteria. The names of 400 applicants (four of whom were women) were forwarded to NAS to review their academic qualifications.[14] The NAS selection board consisted of Allan H. Brown, Loren D. Carlson, Frederick L. Ferris,Thomas Gold, H. Keffer, Clifford Morgan,Eugene Shoemaker, Robert Speed and Aaron Waters.[16] The NAS boards reduced the number of candidates to just fifteen. On May 2, 1965, they were sent to theUnited States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine atBrooks Air Force Base, nearSan Antonio, Texas, for medical examinations.[17] The final step, on May 12, 1965, was an interview by the NASA selection panel, which consisted of Charles A. Berry, John F. Clark,Maxime Faget,Warren J. North andMercury Seven astronautsAlan B. Shepard andDonald K. Slayton.[16] The names of the six successful candidates were publicly announced at a press conference on June 29, 1965.[18] They were the first astronauts chosen on the basis of research and academic experience.[19]
| Image | Name | Born | Died | Career | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Owen K. Garriott | Enid, Oklahoma, November 22, 1930 | April 15, 2019 | Garriott received aB.S. inelectrical engineering from theUniversity of Oklahoma in 1953. From 1953 to 1956 he served with the U.S. Navy as an electronics officer. He then enteredStanford University and earned anM.S. in 1957 and aPh.D in 1960 in electrical engineering. He became anassistant professor, and then anassociate professor in the Electrical Engineering department there. His first space flight was in July 1973 as Science Pilot on theSkylab 3 mission, the second crew of theSkylabspace station. He was Deputy, Acting and Director of Science and Applications at theJohnson Space Center from 1974 to 1975 and 1976 to 1978. As such he was responsible for all research in the physical sciences at the Johnson Space Center. From 1984 to 1986, he was Project Scientist in the Space Station Project Office. He flew in space a second time onSTS-9 Columbia in November 1983 as amission specialist on theSpacelab mission. He retired from NASA in June 1986. | [20][21] |
 | Edward G. Gibson | Buffalo, New York, November 8, 1936 | Gibson received a B.S. inengineering from theUniversity of Rochester in 1959, an M.S. in engineering from theCalifornia Institute of Technology in 1960, and a Ph.D. in engineering with a minor inphysics from the California Institute of Technology in 1964. He was on the support crew of theApollo 12 lunar landing mission, and flew in space on theSkylab 4 mission in November 1973 to February 1974 as Science Pilot in the third crew of theSkylabspace station. He left NASA in December 1974. | [22] | |
 | Duane E. Graveline | Newport, Vermont, March 2, 1931 | September 5, 2016 | Graveline received his B.S. degree from theUniversity of Vermont in 1951 and hisM.D. from theUniversity of Vermont College of Medicine in 1955. He joined the U.S. Air Force Medical Service, and was an intern atWalter Reed Army Hospital from July 1955 to June 1956. He attended the primary course in Aviation Medicine atRandolph Air Force Base in Texas, and was assigned toKelly Air Force Base in Texas as Chief of the Aviation Medicine Service there. He was granted theU.S. Air Force aeronautical rating offlight surgeon in February 1957, and received a master's degree inpublic health from theJohns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He resigned from NASA in August 1965 before being assigned to a crew after his first wife filed for a divorce. He returned to Vermont, where he served as a flight surgeon with theVermont Army National Guard, and practiced medicine until the state revoked his medical license in 1994. | [23][24][25] |
 | Joseph P. Kerwin | Oak Park, Illinois, February 19, 1932 | Kerwin received hisB.A. degree inphilosophy from theCollege of the Holy Cross inWorcester, Massachusetts in 1953, and his M.D. fromNorthwestern University Medical School inChicago, Illinois, in 1957. He completed his internship at theDistrict of Columbia General Hospital inWashington, D.C., and attended the U.S. Navy School of Aviation Medicine onPensacola, Florida, where he qualified as a navalflight surgeon in December 1958. He earned hisUnited States Naval Aviator wings atBeeville, Texas, in 1962. He flew in space onSkylab 2 in May and June 1973 as Science Pilot in the first crew of theSkylabspace station. He was NASA's senior science representative in Australia from 1982 to 1983, and Director of Space and Life Sciences at theJohnson Space Center from 1984 to 1987, when he resigned from NASA to joinLockheed, where he was involved in the development of hardware for theSpace Station Freedom and later theInternational Space Station. | [26] | |
 | F. Curtis Michel | La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 5, 1934 | February 26, 2015 | Michel received his B.S. with honors in Physics in 1955 and Ph.D. Physics in 1962 from theCalifornia Institute of Technology. He was a junior engineer with theFirestone Tire and Rubber Company's Guided Missile Division until he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1955. AnAFROTC graduate, he received flight training atMarana Air Base in Arizona, and atLaredo Air Force Base andPerrin Air Force Base in Texas, and flewF-86D Interceptors in the United States and Europe. In 1958 he became a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology. He joined the faculty ofRice University inHouston, Texas on 1963. He resigned from NASA in September 1969 before being assigned to a crew, and returned to Rice University, where he became the Andrew Hays Buchanan Professor of Astrophysics. He was aGuggenheim Fellow in 1979, and was anAlexander von Humboldt Foundation award recipient in 1982. | [27] |
 | Harrison H. Schmitt | Santa Rita, New Mexico, July 3, 1935 | Schmitt received his B.S. from theCalifornia Institute of Technology in 1957, and his Ph.D. ingeology fromHarvard University in 1964. He worked at theU.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Center inFlagstaff, Arizona, where he was in charge of developing lunar field geological methods. He participated in photographic and telescopic mapping of the Moon, and was among USGS astrogeologists who instructed NASA astronauts during their geological field trips during astronaut training. He was the backuplunar module pilot onApollo 15, and the prime lunar module onApollo 17, the last crewed lunar landing, in December 1972. As such, he became thetwelfth person to walk on the Moon. He resigned from NASA in August 1975 to run for theUnited States Senate in his home state ofNew Mexico. He was elected on November 2, 1976, and served one term. He then became anadjunct professor of engineering physics at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison. | [28] |
Two of the six were qualified pilots: Michel with the Air Force, and Kerwin with the Navy. They were given jobs related tospace suits and Apollo experiments, respectively, while the rest were sent toWilliams Air Force Base in Arizona for 55 weeks of pilot training.[29] Graveline resigned on August 18, 1965, after his first wife, Carole Janenée Tollerton, filed for divorce, in which she accused him of "violent and ungovernable outbursts of temper."[24] To avoid a scandal, and to send a message to other astronauts, NASA demanded his resignation.[30] Apart from Michel, who worked at nearbyRice University, they found that they were unable to continue their previous research.[31] When the pilot training was complete, all joinedAlan Bean's Apollo Applications Branch.[32]
Along with the nineteen pilot astronauts ofNASA Astronaut Group 5, the group commenced astronaut training. Training was conducted on Monday to Wednesday, with Thursday and Friday for field trips. They were given classroom instruction inastronomy (154 hours),aerodynamics (8 hours), rocket propulsion (8 hours), communications (10 hours),space medicine (17 hours),meteorology (4 hours), upperatmospheric physics (12 hours), navigation (34 hours),orbital mechanics (23 hours), computers (8 hours) and geology (112 hours). The training in geology included field trips to theGrand Canyon and theMeteor Crater in Arizona,Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico,Horse Lava Tube System inBend, Oregon, and the ash flow in theMarathon Uplift in Texas, and other locations, including Alaska and Hawaii. There was also jungle survival training for the scientists in Panama, and desert survival training aroundReno, Nevada. Water survival training was conducted atNaval Air Station Pensacola using theDilbert Dunker. Some 30 hours of briefings were conducted on theApollo spacecraft, and twelve on thelunar module.[33]
The scientists had various assignments. Schmitt, the only geologist in the group, spent most of his time on lunar landing site selection.[34] By 1967, it looked as if many fewer missions would be flown than originally planned, and the astronauts were risking their careers. Provision was made to allow the pilot astronauts to keep their pilot skills honed, but there was no such concession for the scientists.[35] Gibson became the first of the six scientists to be named to a crew when he was selected as a member of the support crew forApollo 12 in April 1969,[36] but the announcement of prime and backups crews forApollo 13 andApollo 14 in August 1969 was the last straw for many. The prime and backup crews included eight members of the 1966 group of pilots, and Apollo 14 would be commanded by Mercury Seven astronaut Alan Shepard.[37] Michel resigned to return to teaching at Rice in September,[27] and there were resignations by NASA scientists Donald U. Wise, Elbert A. King Jr,Wilmot N. Hess and Eugene Shoemaker. All had their reasons for leaving, but all were highly critical of NASA. The calls for more participation by scientists did not go unheeded, and NASA Deputy AdministratorGeorge Mueller wrote to the director of theManned Spacecraft Center (MSC),Robert R. Gilruth, in September 1969, and asked him to give the matter his personal attention.[38]
The MSC took steps to improve relations with the scientific community.[39] On March 26, 1970, Slayton announced that Schmitt would be backuplunar module pilot ofApollo 15;Richard F. Gordon, thecommand module pilot of Apollo 12, was named as backup commander, andVance Brand as command module pilot. Under the prevailing rotation system, this set Schmitt up to walk on the Moon on Apollo 18. However, in September 1970, two more Apollo missions were cancelled;Apollo 17 would be the last Apollo mission to the Moon. Once again, frustration boiled over. Associate AdministratorHomer E. Newell Jr. spoke with the scientist astronauts, and took their case to NASA AdministratorJames C. Fletcher. Newell recommended that a scientist astronaut be assigned to the next Moon mission, and that two be assigned to eachSkylab mission.[40] Although Slayton insisted on two trained pilot astronauts for each Skylab mission,[41] on August 13, 1971, Schmitt was named as part of the prime crew of Apollo 17. He would become the last man to step onto the lunar surface.[42] The remaining three flew on Skylab missions, but only one per mission, as the "science pilot".[43]
