Ken Bowersox
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| Kenneth Dwane "Sox" Bowersox | |
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| NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Status | Retired |
| Born | November 14, 1956 Portsmouth, Virginia |
| Other occupation | Test Pilot |
| Rank | Captain, United States Navy |
| Time in space | 211d 14h 12m |
| Selection | 1987 NASA Group |
| Missions | STS-50, STS-61, STS-73, STS-82, STS-113, Expedition 6, Soyuz TMA-1 |
| Mission insignia |      .png){kind=small} |
Kenneth Dwane "Sox" Bowersox (born November 14, 1956) is an engineer, United States Naval officer, and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions and an extended stay aboard the International Space Station.
Bowersox was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, but considers Bedford, Indiana his home town. As a young boy, his family lived in Oxnard, CA for seven years and he attended Rio Real elementary.[1] Bowersox is an Eagle Scout [2] and earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy before receiving his commission in 1978. He attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and graduated with class 85A.[3] He served as a test pilot on A-7E and F/A-18 aircraft, and was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987. Bowersox holds the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. Bowersox first flew as a pilot on the Space Shuttle missions STS-50 and STS-61, he commanded missions STS-73, a microgravity research mission and STS-82, a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. He then launched on STS-113 with Don Pettit and Nikolai Budarin for an extended stay aboard the ISS as the commander of ISS Expedition 6 in 2002 and 2003, returning aboard Soyuz TMA-1 rather than the Space Shuttle as a result of the fleet's grounding following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which occurred during Bowersox's tour aboard the station.
Bowersox retired from NASA on September 30, 2006. On June 16, 2009 he was appointed vice president of Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance at SpaceX. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame on June 8, 2010, four days after the first successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.[4]
It was revealed on January 17, 2012 that Bowersox resigned from SpaceX in late December, 2011. At the time of the announcement no further details for his departure were given.
Bowersox appeared on three episodes of the American TV show Home Improvement.
[edit] Awards
| Ribbon | Description | Notes |
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National Defense Service Medal | with award star |
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Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon | |
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NASA Space Flight Medal | with four award stars |
[edit] References
- ^ Murillo, Sandra (February 8, 2003). "Pupils Feared for Pen Pal in Space". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/feb/08/local/me-station8. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
- ^ "Scouting and Space Exploration". Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/scouting_space.aspx. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
- ^ USAF Test Pilot School 50 Years and Beyond. Privately Published. 1994. p. 240.
- ^ NASA TV airing U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction on June 5 http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_M10-085_Astro_Hall_of_Fame.html
[edit] External links
- NASA Biography
- Spacefacts biography of Ken Bowersox
- Space.com announcement of Bowersox's resignation from SpaceX
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- 1956 births
- American astronauts
- Commanders of the International Space Station
- Crew members of the International Space Station
- Living people
- United States naval aviators
- United States Navy officers
- United States Naval Academy alumni
- USAF Test Pilot School alumni
- Eagle Scouts
- American test pilots
- Columbia Engineering alumni
- United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees
