COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Great Images in Nasa Collection
Record
Title:
Astronaut Deke Slayton during World War II
Full Description:
This World War II photograph shows future Astronaut Donald "Deke" K. Slayton (on right) and 1st Lt. Ed Steinman (on left) beside a Douglas A-26 bomber in the Pacific Theater of Operations during the summer of 1945. While the exact location is unknown, the photograph was most likely taken on Okinawa. 1st Lt. Slayton was one of only two NASA astronauts to fly combat missions during World War II. Slayton was born in 1924 in Sparta, Wisconsin, and joined the Army Air Force soon after high school. He completed flight training in April 1943, and spent a year in Europe as a B-25 pilot with the 340th Bombardment Group, completing 56 combat missions. In 1944, he returned to the United States for a year before being assigned to Okinawa with the 319th Bombardment Group. As part of the first group to fly combat with the A-26 aircraft, he flew seven combat missions over Japan. Slayton logged more the 6,600 hours of flying time, including 5,100 in jet aircraft. He was named as one of the seven Mercury astronauts in April 1959 and was scheduled to pilot the Mercury- Atlas 7 mission, but a heart condition prevented him from flying. After years of work as the Coordinator of Astronaut Activities and Director of Flight Crew Operations, he was again declared fit to fly in March 1972. Three years later he participated in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project as the Apollo docking module pilot. While he did not fly again, he continued to work for NASA until 1982 in a variety of capacities. He died on June 13, 1993.
Date:
1945
NASA Center:
Headquarters
Subject Category:
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
Keywords:
A-26
Audience:
General Public
facet_what:
Atlas
facet_where:
Douglas
facet_who:
Deke Slayton
facet_when:
1924
facet_when_year:
1924
Image #:
S-75-28359
UID:
SPD-GRIN-GPN-2004-00028
Center:
HQ
Center Number:
S-75-28359
GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2004-00028
Creator-Photographer:
NASA
Original Source:
Digital
