NASA Astronaut, Test Pilot Gordon Fullerton DiesLong serving NASA astronaut, research pilot and U.S. Air Force test pilot Gordon Fullerton died Aug 21, aged 76.
Fullerton, who logged 382 hours in space on two shuttle missions, was particularly well known for his work at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, where he served for 22 years as a research test pilot. Before flying on the shuttle Columbia in STS-3 in 1982 and commanding the shuttle Challenger on the STS-51F Spacelab 2 mission in 1985, Fullerton was one of the test pilots who flew the space shuttle prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program at NASA Dryden in 1977.
Born in Rochester, New York in Oct 1936, Fullerton earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1957 and 1958. After a short stint as a mechanical design engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, Fullerton joined the U.S. Air Force in 1958 where he trained initially as an F-86 interceptor pilot. Later transferring to B-47 bombers, he went on to graduate from test pilot school at Edwards AFB, Calif in 1964.
Two years later Fullerton was selected for the Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, but when this was cancelled in 1969 he transferred to NASA’s civilian astronaut corps at Johnson Space Center where he served on the support crews for the final four Apollo missions. It was with Apollo 13 crew member Fred Haise that Fullerton would later fly two captive carry and three free-flight ALT tests of the Enterprise to develop procedures for the shuttle’s unpowered gliding landing.
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