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moon landing with Apollo 12, Apollo 13, with University of Oklahoma graduate Fred Haise aboard, provided knuckle-biting drama as the mission had to be aborted. Stuart Roosa, who attended Claremore High School and Oklahoma State University, was the command module pilot, circling the moon while two other astronauts did the moonwalk during the Apollo 14 mission. By the end of 1972 the moon landings were fi nished.


In Apollo-Soyuz, the fi rst American/Russian joint space project, two spacecraft met and connected. As Commander Stafford and Russian Commander Alexei Leonov shook hands in space, the world watched in hope that the Cold War was over.


Skylab/International Space Station Two more Oklahoma astronauts were involved with 1973-1974 Skylab, America’s


fi rst space station, designed to prove humans could live and work in outer space for extended periods of time. Dr. Owen Garriott, born in Enid, Okla., on Nov. 22, 1930, a graduate of Enid High


School and the University of Oklahoma, was one of the fi rst scientist-astronauts in the NASA program. During the Skylab-2 mission he served as pilot on Skylab-3 and also worked outside the spacecraft. Ten years later he worked on Spacelab-1, an inter- national mission which conducted over 70 experiments in six different disciplines. Since leaving NASA in 1986, Garriott has continued scientifi c work and encourag- ing interest in science. Garriott and his ex-wife, grateful for the support of the com- munity when they were growing up, founded and fi nancially support Leonardo’s Children’s Museum in Enid and visit frequently. Okemah, Okla.,-born Col. William Pogue grew up in Sand Springs, Okla., and graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University and Oklahoma State University. A mem- ber of the famed Thunderbirds, he was the pilot of Skylab-4, the fi nal manned visit to the orbital facility. Dr. Shannon Lucid grew up in Bethany, Okla., and received her B.S., M.S., and PhD in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma. She participat- ed in fi ve space shuttle/space station missions, the last as an engineer on the Russian space station Mir. She retired from NASA in 2012. Commander John Herrington was born in Wetumka, Okla., and was the fi rst Native American (Chickasaw) in space. A Navy pilot, his was the 16th mission to the International Space Station. His tasks included three EVAs during the two-week mission.


Who’s Who The astronauts are an extremely select group. According to Brandi Dean, Public


Affairs Offi ce of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, new groups of astronauts are chosen on an as-needed basis, approximately every four years. New classes comprise eight to 10 candidates for two years of training before they become “offi cial.” The latest ap- plication period resulted in more than 18,000 responses. “Currently there are 46 active astronauts. There are 29 management astronauts (not in line for a fl ight assignment). And there are 205 former astronauts (retired or de- ceased). Three of Oklahoma’s astronauts, Cooper, Pogue and Roosa, have died,” she says. “Oklahoma is the only state that can claim to have had an astronaut in every American manned space program—Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, Shuttle, Shuttle-Spacelab, Shuttle-Mir and Shuttle-International Space Station,” Max Ary, director of the Stafford Air and Space Museum, says. What a proud legacy.


From SWOSU to the Moon


Apollo 10 recovery The space effort has required many thousands of


scientists, technicians, contractors and other sup- port people. The Apollo Program alone involved around 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 em- ployees of industrial and university contractors. Many Oklahomans have been among these


workers. “Besides laying claim to astronaut Tom Stafford,


Weatherford, Okla., is also home to Southwestern Oklahoma State University (SWOSU). During the hey- days of the early space program, when we were still going to the moon, NASA selected more than 20 SWOSU graduates to chair critical positions in the famed Mission Control Center in Houston,” Max Ary, director of the Thomas P. Stafford Air and Space Museum, says. These are names unfamiliar to the general public.


Another of Oklahoma’s heroes is Capt. Charles Smiley. Smiley was executive offi cer of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron Four, which was selected as the Prime Recovery Squadron for the Apollo Lunar Missions. Smiley was the Prime Recovery Pilot for Apollo 10 and 13 and Backup Pilot for Apollo 12. He recalls this story from the Apollo 10 pickup. “The NASA physician was on board the helicopter


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as we prepared to pick up the astronauts. He asked me to ask Tom Stafford how he was feeling. ‘Just fi ne,’ was the answer. Shortly afterward, the doctor repeated his request. I relayed the message to Commander Stafford. The answer came back the same—with just a hint of frustration in his voice. “At the doctor’s third query, I repeated the mes-


sage. The answer came back, ‘Tell the doctor to take two aspirin and call me in the morning.’”


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