Captain Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman,
USN, (born 15 August 1959) is a
test pilot and
NASA astronaut and veteran of four
space shuttle missions. His fourth
space shuttle mission on
STS-125 was the last servicing mission to the
Hubble Space Telescope.
Education
1977: Graduated from Pekin Community High School, Pekin, Illinois
1981: Received bachelor of science degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity
1990: Received master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School
Organizations
University of Illinois Alumni Association
Sigma Chi Alumni Association
life member Association of Naval Aviation
Military Order of the World Wars.
Special honors
Defense Superior Service Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Navy Strike/Flight Air Medal
Navy Commendation Medal
Navy Achievement Medal
1987 Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Tactical Aviation as selected by the Association of Naval Aviation.
Experience
Commissioned as an
Ensign in the United States Navy in August 1981, received his Navy wings of gold in February 1983. As a member of
Fighter Squadron 51 at
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Altman completed two deployments to the
Western Pacific and
Indian Ocean flying the
F-14A Tomcat. In August 1987, he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School-
Test Pilot School Coop program and graduated with Test Pilot School Class 97 in June 1990 as a Distinguished Graduate. After graduation, he spent the next two years as a test pilot working on various F-14 projects. Altman then took the new
F-14D on its first operational deployment with
VF-31 Tomcatters where he served as maintenance officer and later operations officer. He was awarded the Navy Air Medal for his role as a strike leader flying over Southern
Iraq in support of
Operation Southern Watch. Shortly following his return from this six month deployment, he was selected for the astronaut program. He has logged over 4000 flight hours in more than 40 types of aircraft.
He also performed many of the aerial stunts in the movie Top Gun.
NASA experience
Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in December 1994, Altman reported to the
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in March 1995. He completed a year of training and was initially assigned to work technical aspects of orbiter landing and roll out issues for the Astronaut Office Vehicle Systems Branch. He was the pilot on
STS-90 (1998) and
STS-106 (2000), and was the mission commander on
STS-109 (2002) and
STS-125 (2009). A veteran of four space flights, Altman has logged over 40 days in space. He is currently assigned as Shuttle Branch chief for the Astronaut Office and as lead for the Cockpit Avionics Upgrade.
Space flight experience
STS-90 Neurolab (April 17 to May 3, 1998). During the 16-day
Spacelab flight the seven person crew aboard
Space Shuttle Columbia served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system.
STS-106 Atlantis (September 8–20, 2000). During the 12-day mission, the crew successfully prepared the International Space Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. Additionally, he handflew two complete flyarounds of the station after undocking.
STS-109 Columbia (March 1–12, 2002). STS-109 was the fourth Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission. The STS-109 crew successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit, a new camera and new solar arrays. HST servicing and upgrade was accomplished by four crewmembers during a total of 5 EVAs in 5 consecutive days. The space walkers were assisted by crewmates inside Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-109 orbited the Earth 165 times, and covered 3.9 million miles in over 262 hours, culminating in a night landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
STS-125 Atlantis (May 11–24, 2009). STS-125 was the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis carried two new instruments to the telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan. The mission also carried an IMAX camera and the crew documented the progress of the mission for an upcoming IMAX movie.
Personal data
Born in
Lincoln, Illinois, Douglas is married to the former Jill Shannon Loomer of
Tucson, Arizona. They have three children, the second oldest of whom, Alex, graduated
Rice University in
Houston, Texas in May 2009. Hometown is
Pekin, Illinois, where his parents, Fred and Sharon Altman, currently reside. Scott's sister Sarah Beardsley is the publisher of
Venus Zine, a women's music, DIY and culture multi-media company. His call sign is
Scooter.
Top Gun
In a NASA interview prior to his 2000 spaceflight, Scott Altman commented on his role as an F-14 pilot involved in the filming of
Top Gun:
See also
Notes
References
;Web
NASA Scott D. Altman biography
External links
Spacefacts biography of Scott Altman
Category:1959 births
Category:Living people
Category:American astronauts
Category:United States Navy officers
Category:Recipients of the Air Medal
Category:University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alumni
Category:Naval Postgraduate School alumni
Category:United States naval aviators
Category:People from Tazewell County, Illinois
