Charles D. Walker
Charles D. Walker was the first commercial payload specialist, flying three times in two years - at a time many astronauts were getting their first flights.
Walker could have made a fourth flight, when Robert Wood, also from McDonnell Douglas looked like he was having trouble with the training (Walker was Wood's alternate.) However, the Challenger accident in January 1986 along with advances in drug manufacturing, curtailed MDD's space manufacturing efforts.
While never an employee of NASA, he has been extensively involved in payload preparation and on-pad processing support activities at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and in flight support at the Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas. He was responsible for training the NASA astronaut crews in the operation of the CFES payload on STS-4, STS-6, STS-7, and STS-8 shuttle flights during 1982 and 1983. Confirmed by NASA in 1983 as the first industrial payload specialist, Mr. Walker accompanied the McDonnell Douglas continuous flow electrophoresis (CFES) equipment as a crew member on Space Shuttle missions 41-D, 51-D, and 61-B, accumulating 20 days of experience in space and traveling 8.2 million miles. Aboard these Space Shuttle missions Mr. Walker also performed early protein crystal growth experiments and participated as a test subject in numerous medical studies. Since 1986 Mr. Walker has served in various NASA study and review team capacities including as a member of the NASA Microgravity Material Science Assessment Task Force, the NASA Space Station Office Quick-is-Beautiful/Rapid Response Research Study Group, and the NASA Space Station Operations Task Force. He has served on the national panels of the NASA/Industry Manned Flight Awareness Program and the NASA/Industry Education Initiative.
I have forgotten who got this photo for me, but I thank you!
Charles D. Walker
Charles D. Walker was the first commercial payload specialist, flying three times in two years - at a time many astronauts were getting their first flights.
Walker could have made a fourth flight, when Robert Wood, also from McDonnell Douglas looked like he was having trouble with the training (Walker was Wood's alternate.) However, the Challenger accident in January 1986 along with advances in drug manufacturing, curtailed MDD's space manufacturing efforts.
While never an employee of NASA, he has been extensively involved in payload preparation and on-pad processing support activities at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and in flight support at the Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas. He was responsible for training the NASA astronaut crews in the operation of the CFES payload on STS-4, STS-6, STS-7, and STS-8 shuttle flights during 1982 and 1983. Confirmed by NASA in 1983 as the first industrial payload specialist, Mr. Walker accompanied the McDonnell Douglas continuous flow electrophoresis (CFES) equipment as a crew member on Space Shuttle missions 41-D, 51-D, and 61-B, accumulating 20 days of experience in space and traveling 8.2 million miles. Aboard these Space Shuttle missions Mr. Walker also performed early protein crystal growth experiments and participated as a test subject in numerous medical studies. Since 1986 Mr. Walker has served in various NASA study and review team capacities including as a member of the NASA Microgravity Material Science Assessment Task Force, the NASA Space Station Office Quick-is-Beautiful/Rapid Response Research Study Group, and the NASA Space Station Operations Task Force. He has served on the national panels of the NASA/Industry Manned Flight Awareness Program and the NASA/Industry Education Initiative.
I have forgotten who got this photo for me, but I thank you!