12 dni temu przypadła 30. rocznica śmierci astronauty.
Stuart A. Roosa, 61, Astronaut Who Flew 3d Mission to MoonBy John Noble Wilford Dec. 13, 1994
Stuart A. Roosa, an astronaut who flew on the third lunar landing mission in 1971, died yesterday at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., where he was visiting family members. He was 61 and lived in Sessums, Miss.
The cause was complications from pancreatitis, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.
A thin, red-headed astronaut, Mr. Roosa had only one space flight, the Apollo 14 mission to the Moon from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, 1971. He never walked on the Moon itself, being the pilot who remained in orbit while the two other astronauts, Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Edgar D. Mitchell, explored a region of the lunar landscape known as Fra Mauro. But long afterward, his memories spilled over in thoughtful reminiscences rare among astronauts.
In "A Man on the Moon," published earlier this year, Andrew Chaikin, a science writer, recalled that Mr. Roosa enjoyed the solitude of being in lunar orbit, alone and out of radio contact and in total darkness. He took special pride in his scientific observations from orbit.
And he did not presume that he was a different man for having been on a lunar mission. "Space changes nobody," Mr. Roosa said in an interview with Mr. Chaikin. "You bring back from space what you bring into space."
Mr. Roosa had the characteristics, Mr. Chaikin wrote, of "Life magazine's image of an astronaut." More than many of his colleagues, the author said, Mr. Roosa "was a straitlaced, conservative family man with a soldier's devotion to his country."
But Mr. Roosa was not unmoved by the Apollo experience. "He was one of the most passionate about what we lost when we gave up Apollo" and lunar exploration, Mr. Chaikin recalled yesterday. "He was downright wistful about it."
Stuart Allen Roosa was born Aug. 16, 1933, in Durango, Colo., and grew up in Claremore, Okla. He worked as a smoke jumper for the United States Forest Service in Oregon and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He joined the Air Force, where he was an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., a training ground for many future astronauts, and rose to colonel.
Mr. Roosa was one of 19 people selected for the astronaut class of 1966, when the corps was being expanded for the Apollo Project. Following the Apollo 14 flight, he served as a backup command pilot for Apollo 16 and 17, the final two lunar missions. He eventually worked on the early stages of the space shuttle development, until his retirement from NASA and the Air Force in 1976.
In the following years, he had a career in business in this country and abroad. At the time of death, he was president and owner of a Coors beer distributorship in Gulfport, Miss.
Of the 24 men who flew on Apollo lunar missions, Mr. Roosa is the fourth to die. John L. Swigert Jr. of Apollo 13 died of lung cancer in 1982, soon after being elected a Congressman from Colorado. Ronald E. Evans of Apollo 17 died of a heart attack in 1990. James B. Irwin of Apollo 15 died of a heart attack in 1991.
Mr. Roosa is survived by his wife of 37 years, the former Joan Barrett; three sons, Christopher, Jack and Allen; a daughter, Rosemary, and two granddaughters.https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/13/obituaries/stuart-a-roosa-61-astronaut-who-flew-3d-mission-to-moon.html12 December 1994. Death of Stuart Allen Roosa, American aeronautical engineer, smokejumper, United States Air Force pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. The Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission, he was one of only 24 men to travel to the Moon.
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Wątek: Stuart Allen Roosa (1933-1994) (Przeczytany 1230 razy)