Dana

Personal: Male, Married, Four children. Born in Pasadena, California, USA.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: USAF Dynasoar Group - 1960, Test Pilot (NASA). Inactive Entered space service: 1965. Left space service: 24 October 1968. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 0.0140 days.

Born in Pasadena, California; married with four children. Received BS, US Military Academy, 1952. Served in USAF, but left to study aeronautical engineering. Obtained MS from University of Southern California in 1958. Joined NACA in 1958 as a test pilot. Selected in 1965 as X-15 test pilot. He made 16 X-15 flights, received astronaut wings for a 93.3 km altitude flight. He continued as a test pilot with NASA until his retirement.

William H. Dana was Chief Engineer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., from 1993 until 1998, when he retired after almost 40 years of distinguished service to NASA. Formerly an aerospace research pilot, Dana flew the F-100 variable stability research aircraft and the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration/F-16 aircraft as well as many others.

Before his assignment as Chief Engineer, he was Assistant Chief of the Flight Operations Division, a position he assumed after serving since 1986 as Chief Pilot. He was also a project pilot on the F-15 HIDEC (Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Control) research program, and a co-project pilot on the F-18 High Angle of Attack research program.

Dana, born in Pasadena, Calif., Nov. 3, 1930, received his Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952 and served four years as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. He joined NASA after receiving a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1958.

As a research pilot, Dana was involved in some of the most significant aeronautical programs carried out at Dryden. For his distinguished service as a premier flight research pilot, he received NASA's Distinguished Service Medal in 1997.

He was a project pilot on the hypersonic X-15 research aircraft and flew the rocket-powered vehicle 16 times, reaching a top speed of 3,897 mph and a peak altitude of 307,000 feet (nearly 59 miles high). He was the pilot on the final (199th) flight of the 10-year program.

In the late 1960s and in the 1970s, Dana was a project pilot on the manned lifting body program, which flew several versions of the wingless vehicles and produced data that helped in development of the Space Shuttles. For his contributions to the lifting body program, Dana received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. In 1976 he received the Haley Space Flight Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for his research work on the M2-F3 lifting body control systems.

A member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Dana is the author of several technical papers.

August 1999

• 1 November 1966 Flight: X-15 Flight 174. Flight Up: X-15 Flight 174. Flight Back: X-15 Flight 174. Flight Time: 0.0074 days.

• 21 August 1968 Flight: X-15 Flight 197. Flight Up: X-15 Flight 197. Flight Back: X-15 Flight 197. Flight Time: 0.0065 days.

4 November 1965 - X-15A Checkout mission. Assignment: Prime Crew. Maximum Speed - 4450 kph. Maximum Altitude - 24440 m.

• NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Web Site, . Accessed at: http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/.