William Edgar Thornton (M.D.)
NASA Astronaut (former) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of Americas space program and long-term general aerospace research. ... U.S. Space Shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless II using a manned maneuvering unit. ...

Personal data

Born in Faison, North Carolina, on April 14, 1929. Married to the former Elizabeth Jennifer Fowler of Hertfordshire, England. They have two sons. Faison is a town located in Duplin County, North Carolina. ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom, officially part of the East of England Government region. ...

Education

• Attended primary and secondary schools in Faison, North Carolina
• 1952: Received a bachelor of science degree in physics from the University of North Carolina
• 1963: Received a doctorate in medicine from the University of North Carolina

Faison is a town located in Duplin County, North Carolina. ... 1952 - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... The University of North Carolina, often called the University of North Carolina System to avoid confusion, is a federation of all sixteen public universities in North Carolina. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Special honors

• Recipient of the Air Force Legion of Merit (1956)
• the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1972)
• the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (1974)
• the American Astronautical Society’s Melbourne W. Boynton Award for 1975 (1977)
• two NASA Space Flight Medals (1983, 1985)
• the University of North Carolina Distinguished Alumni Award (1983)
• the Aerospace Medical Association Randy Lovelace Award (1984)
• the AIAA Jeffries Medical Research Award (1985)
• the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States Kern Award (1986)
• the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Award (1988).

1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Experience

Following graduation from the University of North Carolina and having completed Air Force ROTC training, Thornton served as officer-in-charge of the Instrumentation Lab at the Flight Test Air Proving Ground. He later became a consultant to Air Proving Ground Command. The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is a training program of the United States armed forces present on college campuses to recruit and educate commissioned officers. ...

As chief engineer of the electronics division of the Del Mar Engineering Labs at Los Angeles from 1956 to 1959, he also organized and directed its Avionics Division. He returned to the University of North Carolina Medical School in 1959, graduated in 1963, and completed internship training in 1964 at the Wilford Hall USAF Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Downtown Los Angeles skyline facing northeast toward the San Gabriel Mountains on a clear winter day. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. ... 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Lackland Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located to the west of San Antonio, Texas, USA. It is the main entry processing station (Basic Military Training, or BMT) for Air Force trainees. ... Downtown San Antonio as viewed from the Tower of the Americas San Antonio is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. ...

Dr. Thornton returned to active duty with the United States Air Force and was then assigned to the USAF Aerospace Medical Division, Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, where he completed the Primary Flight Surgeon’s training in 1964. It was during his two-year tour of duty there that he became involved in space medicine research and subsequently applied and was selected for astronaut training. Dr. Thornton developed and designed the first mass measuring devices for space, which remain in use today. Seal of the Air Force. ... Brooks Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located in San Antonio, Texas. ...

Dr. Thornton has logged over 2,500 hours pilot flying time in jet aircraft, is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, and is an adjunct Professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. The University of Texas System comprises fifteen educational institutions in Texas, of which nine are general academic universities, and six are health institutions. ... Galveston redirects here. ... The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) is an upper level institution located in Clear Lake City, Texas. ...

NASA experience

Dr. Thornton was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He completed the required flight training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. Dr. Thornton was physician crew member on the highly successful Skylab Medical Experiments Altitude Test (SMEAT) -- a 56-day simulation of a Skylab mission enabling crewmen to collect medical experiments baseline data and evaluate equipment, operations, and procedures. Dr. Thornton was also the mission specialist on SMD III, a simulation of a Spacelab life sciences mission. 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

Dr. Thornton was a member of the astronaut support crew for the Skylab 2, 3, and 4 missions, and principal investigator for Skylab experiments on mass measurement, anthropometric measurements, hemodynamics, and human fluid shifts and physical conditioning. He first documented the shift and loss of fluid changes in body posture size and shape, including increase in height and the rapid loss of muscle strength and mass in space flight. Skylab 2 or SL-2 was the first human spaceflight mission to Skylab, the first U.S. orbital space station. ... Skylab 3 or SL-3 was the second manned mission to Skylab. ... Skylab 4 or SL-4 was the fourth Skylab mission. ... Categories: Pages needing attention | Stub ...

As a member of the Astronaut Office Operations Missions Development group, Dr. Thornton was responsible for developing crew procedures and techniques for deployable payloads, and for maintenance of crew conditions in flight. He developed advanced techniques for, and made studies in, kinesiology and kinesimetry related to space operations. Kinesiology is the study of human movement. ...

During Space Shuttle operations he continued physiological investigations in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal and neurological areas. He developed the Shuttle treadmill for in-flight exercise and several other on-board devices. His work concentrated on the space adaptation syndrome, with relevant investigations on STS-4, STS-5, STS-6, STS-7, and STS-8. The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... The circulatory system or cardiovascular system is the organ system which circulates blood around the body of most animals. ... Neurology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the central and peripheral nervous systems. ... STS-4 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Columbia, launched June 27, 1982. ... STS-5 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Columbia, launched November 11, 1982. ... STS-6 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Challenger, launched April 4, 1983. ... STS-7 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Challenger, launched June 18, 1983. ... STS-8 was the eighth Space Shuttle mission, the third for Challenger. ...

Dr. Thornton holds more than 35 issued patents that range from military weapons systems through the first real-time EKG computer analysis. Space-related items include the first in-flight mass measurement devices, shock and vibration isolation systems, an improved waste collection system, an improved lower body negative pressure (LBNP) apparatus, and others. ECG may also refer to the East Coast Greenway Lead II An Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG, abbreviated from the German Elektrokardiogramm) is a graphic produced by an electrocardiograph, which records the electrical voltage in the heart in the form of a continuous strip graph. ...

A veteran of two space flights, Dr. Thornton has logged over 313 hours in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-8 in 1983, and STS-51B in 1985. STS-8 was the eighth Space Shuttle mission, the third for Challenger. ... STS 51-B was the seventeenth flight of a Space Shuttle and the seventh flight of Challenger. ...

Dr. Thornton continued his work in space medicine while awaiting his next flight opportunity. He worked on problems relative to extending mission durations in the Space Shuttle, in the Space station, and in space exploration, and has designed the necessary exercise and other hardware to support such missions. He continued analysis and publication of results from studies of neurological adaptation, and the study of neuromuscular inhibition following flight, osteoporosis in space and on Earth, and postflight orthostasis. He has completed designs for exercise and other countermeasure equipment for the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO), and for Space Station Freedom, including improved treadmills, rowing machines, isotonic exercise devices, and a bicycle. Much of this is currently scheduled for flight. The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... A space station is an artificial structure designed for humans to live on in outer space. ... Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the amount of bone is decreased and the strength of trabecular bone is reduced, cortical bone becomes thin and bones are susceptible to fracture. ... Space Station Freedom was the name given to NASAs project to construct a permanently-manned earth-orbiting space station. ...

Dr. Thornton retired from NASA effective May 31, 1994. May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining, as the last day of May. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

Space flight experience

STS-8 Challenger (August 30 to September 5, 1983). This was the third flight for the [[Orbiter Challenger]] and the first mission with a night launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and a night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the flight Dr. Thornton made almost continuous measurements and investigations of adaptation of the human body to weightlessness, especially of the nervous system and of the space adaptation syndrome. This was a continuation of his previous work in these areas. Much of the equipment used was designed and developed by Dr. Thornton. The mission was accomplished in 98 orbits of the Earth, traveling 2.2 million miles in 145 hours, 8 minutes, 4 seconds. STS-8 was the eighth Space Shuttle mission, the third for Challenger. ... August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 1983 is an integer and composite number that represents a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Merritt Island and Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is the NASA space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) at Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island in Florida, United States. ... Edwards Air Force Base is a base located on the border of Kern County and Los Angeles County, California in the Antelope Valley, northeast of Lancaster, at 34°57′ N 117°52′ W. An airbase since 1933, Edwards has long been a home for flight research and testing and has...

STS-51B/Spacelab-3 Challenger (April 29 to May 6, 1985). The Spacelab-3 science mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the 7-day flight, Dr. Thornton was responsible for the first animal payload in manned flight and other medical investigations. The mission was accomplished in 110 orbits of the Earth,traveling 2.9 million miles in 169 hours and 39 minutes. STS 51-B was the seventeenth flight of a Space Shuttle and the seventh flight of Challenger. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). ...

MAY 1994 Source:[1] (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/thornton-w.html)