Adamson Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, three children. Born in Warsaw, New York, USA. US Army US Army

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 10 - 1984. Inactive Entered space service: 23 May 1984. Left space service: August 1992. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 13.93 days.

NAME: James C. Adamson (Colonel, USA)

NASA Astronaut

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Born March 3, 1946, in Warsaw, New York, but makes his home in Monarch, Montana. His father, Mr. Herman Adamson, resides in Groveland, New York. His mother is deceased.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Brown hair; brown eyes; height: 5 feet 11 inches; weight: 160 pounds.

EDUCATION: Adamson completed his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army at West Point in 1969. In 1977 he completed a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. Additionally he has completed undergraduate and graduate pilot training, paratrooper training, basic and advanced officer training, Command and General Staff School, and the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School.

MARITAL STATUS: Married to the former Susan Broman of Warsaw, New York. Her parents, Walter and Hilda Broman, reside in North Palm Beach, Florida.

CHILDREN: Erik David, March 21, 1974.

RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: He enjoys hunting, fishing, snow skiing, wood working, and long distance running.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the West Point Association of Graduates, Princeton Alumni Association, Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

SPECIAL HONORS: He was a two time All American in pistol competition and winner of the Army's Excellency in Competition Award. Named an Outstanding College Athlete of America, and was captain of the national championship team in 1969. Adamson was distinguished graduate of his class in undergraduate pilot training, and distinguished graduate of his class in graduate fixed-wing and multi-engine pilot training. During aerial combat in Southeast Asia he earned 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, as well as 18 Air Medals, and 3 Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. He was also awarded the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, 2 Army Commendation Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Vietnamese Campaign Medal. Recipient of the NASA Space Flight Medal.

STS-28 STS-28 MS Adamson inspects Columbia's, OV-102's, thermal protection system... Credit- NASA

EXPERIENCE: As a military test pilot, Adamson has flown research aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Princeton University, West Point, Patuxent Naval Air Station, and at NASA Houston. He has logged over 3,000 hours of flight time in over 30 types of helicopters, piston props, turbo props, and turbo jet aircraft. During Vietnam, he flew in the IV Corps area and Cambodia with the Air Cavalry as Scout Pilot, Team Lead, and Air Mission Commander. He has flown with several peacetime flight units at Fort Bliss, Texas, West Point, New York, and Houston, Texas. Following completion of his masters degree in aerospace engineering at Princeton University, he became Assistant Professor of Aerodynamics at the United States Military Academy at West Point. While at West Point, he developed and taught courses in Fluid Mechanics, Aerodynamics, Aircraft Performance, and Stability and Control. He also developed flight laboratories in aircraft flight testing and completed a text on aircraft performance. In addition to being an Experimental Test Pilot and Master Army Aviator, Adamson is also a Certified Professional Aerospace Engineer and licensed Commercial Pilot.

Adamson has also served in Army ground forces as a Nike Hercules Missile Battery Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, and Battery Commander in West Germany. At Fort Bliss, Texas, he served in a Hawk Missile Brigade as Battery Commander.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Adamson has been employed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center since 1981. During the Operational Flight Test Phase of the Shuttle Program, he served as a research as a research test pilot and Aerodynamics Officer in Mission Control. Following completion of the four operational test flights, he became Guidance Navigation and Control Officer for STS missions 5 through 11. As a research pilot and test pilot for NASA's Aircraft Operations Division he conducted remote sensing studies in Biospheric Research.

Selected by NASA in May 1984, Adamson became qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. His initial technical assignment was verification of mission software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). In November 1985, he was selected to the crew of a Department of Defense mission, which was subsequently canceled due to the Challenger accident. During the Shuttle program reconstruction/restoration period Adamson served in the NSTS Program Office as Assistant Manager for Engineering Integration.

In February 1988 he was assigned to the crew of STS-28. The Orbiter Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 8, 1989. The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads. After 80 orbits of the earth in 121 hours, this five day mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on August 13, 1989.

Following STS-28 Adamson was assigned to the Kennedy Space Center as Director for STS Processing Operations. He served in this post from September 1989 to October 1990 when he was assigned to the flight crew of STS-43.

The nine-day mission aboard Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 2, 1991. During the flight, crew members deployed the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-E), in addition to conducting 32 physical, material, and life science experiments, mostly relating to the Extended Duration Orbiter and Space Station Freedom. After 142 orbits of the earth in 213 hours, the STS-43 mission concluded with a landing on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center on August 11, 1991.

A veteran of two space flights Adamson flew on STS-28 in 1989 and STS-43 in 1991. With the completion of his second mission, Adamson has logged over 334 hours in space.

SEPTEMBER 1991

• 8 August 1989 Flight: STS-28. Flight Up: STS-28. Flight Back: STS-28. Flight Time: 5.04 days.

• 2 August 1991 Flight: STS-43. Flight Up: STS-43. Flight Back: STS-43. Flight Time: 8.89 days.

23 May 1984 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 10 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot, engineer, and scientist astronauts for space shuttle flights.. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm..