Parker Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, Five children. Born in New York, New York, USA. PhD

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: NASA Group 6 - 1967. Inactive Entered space service: 4 August 1967. Left space service: 1993. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 19.29 days.

NAME: Robert Allan Ridley Parker (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Born in New York City on December 14, 1936, but grew up in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Gray hair; blue eyes; height: 5 feet 10 inches; weight: 170 pounds.

EDUCATION: Attended primary and secondary schools in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; received a bachelor of arts degree in Astronomy and Physics from Amherst College in 1958, and a doctorate in Astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1962.

MARITAL STATUS: Married to the former Judy Woodruff of San Marino, California.

CHILDREN: Mark Woodruff, December 5, 1957; Jennifer Woodruff, November 4, 1958; Jon Woodruff, February 1, 1962; Kimberly Ellen Parker, February 7, 1962; Brian David Capers Parker, March 8, 1964; and five grandchildren.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the American Astronomical Society, and the International Astronomical Union.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (1973), and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (1974).

EXPERIENCE: Prior to his selection for astronaut training, Dr. Parker was an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin.

He has logged over 3,500 hours flying time in jet aircraft, and 463 hours in space.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Parker was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He was a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 15 and 17 missions and served as Program Scientist for the Skylab Program Director's Office during the three manned Skylab flights. From March 1988 to March 1989, Dr. Parker was stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. where he served as Director of the Space Flight/Space Station Integration Office. A veteran of two Spacelab missions, Dr. Parker was a mission specialist on STS-9/Spacelab-1 (Nov 28 to Dec 8, 1983) and, recently, on STS-35 (Dec 2-10, 1990) which featured the ASTRO-1 ultraviolet astronomy laboratory. Dr. Parker is currently the Director of Policy and Plans for the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C.

JANUARY 1991

• 28 November 1983 Flight: STS-9. Flight Up: STS-9. Flight Back: STS-9. Flight Time: 10.32 days.

• 2 December 1990 Flight: STS-35. Flight Up: STS-35. Flight Back: STS-35. Flight Time: 8.96 days.

4 August 1967 - NASA Astronaut Training Group 6 selected.. The group was selected to provide additional scientist-astronauts for Apollo lunar landing and earth-orbit space station missions.. Qualifications: Doctorate in natural sciences, medicine, or engineering. Under 35 years old, under 183 cm height, excellent health. US citizen or willing to become a naturalized citizen.. In response to the poor result of the first scientist-astronaut selection, NASA went ahead with a second round of selections. 923 people applied, of which 69 selected by the National Academy of Sciences for NASA physical and mental evaluation. By the time the new astronauts reported, ambitious Apollo Applications plans had been scrapped, leading to their nickname 'The Excess Eleven'. Seven stayed on through the 1970's and finally got to fly aboard the space shuttle.

• NASA Astronaut Biographies, Johnson Space Center, NASA, 1995-present. Accessed at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/.