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Stephen Thorne | |
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| Born | Stephen Douglas Thorne (1953-02-11)February 11, 1953 |
| Died | May 24, 1986(1986-05-24) (aged 33) Santa Fe, Texas, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) |
| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut candidate | |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander,USN |
| Selection | NASA Group 11 (1985) |
Stephen Douglas Thorne (February 11, 1953 – May 24, 1986), (Lt Cmdr,USN), was an Americannaval officer andaviator,test pilot and aNASAastronaut candidate.
He was born on February 11, 1953, inFrankfurt,West Germany, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975. He was a Navyfighter pilot from 1976 until he became atest pilot in 1981.
He was accepted for NASA astronaut training in June 1985, but died in an airplane accident where he was a passenger on May 24, 1986.
He was survived by his wife, Sue Lotz ofStaunton, Virginia. His interests includedbaseball,running,reading, andgeneral aviation.
He graduated fromT. L. Hanna High School,Anderson, South Carolina, in 1971 and received aBachelor of Science degree inSystems Engineering from theUnited States Naval Academy in 1975.
Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, Thorne entered flight training and received hisaviator wings in December 1976. Following training in theF-4 Phantom, he joined Fighter Squadron 21 (VF-21) and deployed to theWestern Pacific aboard theUSS Ranger. After training at theU.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1981, Thorne spent the next two years at Strike Aircraft Test at theNaval Air Test Center,Patuxent River, Maryland, flying mostly ordnance and weapons systems tests in the F-4 andA-7 Corsair II. He completedF-18 Hornet transition training in October 1984 and joined Strike Fighter Squadron 132 (VFA-132) aboardUSS Coral Sea until departing for NASA.
He accumulated over 2,500 flying hours and 200 carrier landings in approximately 30 different types of aircraft.[1]
Following an unsuccessful application forNASA Astronaut Group 10,[2] Thorne was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA inJune 1985 and in August, commenced a one-year training and evaluation program to qualify him for subsequent assignment as a pilot on futureSpace Shuttle flights.
Thorne was killed in an aircraft accident of a stunt plane, in which he was a passenger, on May 24, 1986, two months before his astronaut class graduated. The stunt plane crashed while performing maneuvers nearSanta Fe, Texas, killing Thorne and NASA engineer James Simons.[3] He is buried atArlington National Cemetery.[4]
ReceivedNavy Commendation Medal in January 1986.
NASA Astronaut Group 10 ← NASA Astronaut Group 11 →NASA Astronaut Group 12 | |||||||
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