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NAME: Robert L. Stewart (Brigadier General, USA, Ret.)
NASA Astronaut (former)
PERSONAL DATA: Born August 13, 1942, in Washington D.C. Married. Two children. His interests include woodworking, photography and skiing.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Hattiesburg High School, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1960; received a bachelor of science degree in Mathematics from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1964, and a master of science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, in 1972.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Association of Space Explorers past member of Phi Eta Sigma, and the Scabbard and Blade (military honor society).
SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, 2 Legion of Merit, 4 Distinguished Flying Crossed, a Bronze Star, a Meritorious Service Medal, 33 Air Medals, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and "V" Device, 2 Purple Hearts, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the U.S. and Vietnamese Vietnam Service Medals, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry; also Army Aviation of the Year, 1984, AHS Feinberg Memorial Award, AIAA Oberth Award. Recipient of NASA Space Flight Medal (1984 & 1985).
EXPERIENCE: Stewart entered on active duty with the
United States Army in May 1964 and was assigned as an air defense artillery
director at the 32nd NORAD Region Headquarters (SAGE), Gunter Air Force Base,
Alabama. In July 1966, after completing rotary wing training at Ft. Wolters,
Texas, and Ft. Rucker, Alabama, he was designated an Army aviator. He flew 1,035
hours combat time from August 1966 to 1967, primarily as a fire team leader in
the armed helicopter platoon of "A" Company, 101st Aviation Battalion
(redesignated 336th Assault Helicopter Company). He was an instructor pilot at
the U.S. Army Primary Helicopter School -- serving 1 year in the pre-
solo/primary-1 phase of instruction and about 6 months as commander of methods
of instruction flight III, training rated aviators to become instructor pilots.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Army's Air Defense School's Air Defense Officers
Advanced Course and Guided Missile Systems Officers Course. Stewart served in
Seoul, Korea, from 1972 to 1973, with the 309th Aviation Battalion (Combat) as a
battalion operations officer and battalion executive officer. He next attended
the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, completing the
Rotary Wing Test Pilot Course in 1974, and was then assigned as an experimental
test pilot to the U.S. Army Aviation Engineering Flight Activity at Edwards Air
Force Base, California. His duties there included being chief of the integrated
systems test division, as well as participating in engineering flight tests of
UH-1 and AH-1 helicopters and U-21 and OV-1 fixed wing aircraft, serving as
project officer and senior test pilot on the Hughes YAH-64 advanced attack
helicopter during government competitive testing; and participation with
Sikorsky Aircraft test pilots in developing an electronic automatic flight
control system for the new Army transport helicopter -- the UH-60A Black Hawk.
He has military and civilian experience in 38 types of airplanes and helicopters
and logged approximately 6,000 hours total flight time.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Stewart became a NASA Astronaut in
August 1979. His technical duties in the astronaut office have included testing
and evaluation of the entry flight control systems for STS-1 (the first Space
Shuttle orbital mission), ascent abort procedures development, and payload
coordination. He also served as support crewman for STS-4, and Ascent/Orbit
CAPCOM for STS-5. He served as a mission specialist on STS-41B in 1984 and
STS-51J in 1985, and has logged a total of 289 hours in space, including
approximately 12 hours of EVA operations.
In 1986, while in training for his scheduled third flight to be know as 61-K,
Col Stewart was selected by the Army for promotion to Brigadier General. Upon
accepting this promotion General Stewart was reassigned from NASA to be the
Deputy Commanding General, US Army Strategic Defense Command, in Huntsville,
Alabama. In this capacity General Stewart managed research efforts in developing
ballistic missile defense technology. In 1989, he was reassigned as the Director
of Plans, US Space Command, Colorado Springs, CO. General Stewart retired from
the Army in 1992 and currently makes his home in Woodland Park, Co. He is
presently employed as Director, Advanced Programs, Nichols Research Corporation,
Colorado Springs, CO.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-41B Challenger
(February 3-11, 1984) was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and
returned to land there 8-days later. During the mission, Stewart and McCandless
participated in two extravehicular activities (EVA's) to conduct first flight
evaluations of the Manned Maneuvering Units (MMU's). These EVA's represented
man's first untethered operations from a spacecraft in flight.
STS-51J Atlantis (October 3-7, 1985) was launched from Kennedy Space
Center, Florida, and after 98 hours of orbital operations returned to land at
Edwards Air Force Base, California. It was the second Space Shuttle Department
of Defense mission, and the maiden voyage of Atlantis, the final Orbiter
in the Shuttle fleet. During the mission he was responsible for a number of
on-orbit activities.
DECEMBER 1993
Manned five crew. Deployed Westar 6, Palapa B2; tested Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU). Payloads: PALAPA-B2 (Indonesian communications satellite) with Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D and WESTAR (Western Union communications satellite)-Vl with PAM-D. Both satellites were deployed but the PAM-D in each satellite failed to ignite, leaving both satellites in earth orbit. Both satellites were retrieved and returned to earth for renovation on the STS-51-A mission. The manned maneuvering unit (MMU) was tested with extravehicular astronauts as free flyers without tethers as far as 98 m from the orbiter. Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS)-01 experiments, Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR), Isoelectric Focusing Experiment (lEF), Acoustic Containerless Experiment System (ACES), Cinema 360 cameras, five getaway specials (GAS), Aerodynamic Coefficient Identification (ACIP)/High Resolution Accelerom-eter Package (HIRAP).
Tested MMU manoeuvring unit in free flight.
Tested MMU manoeuvring unit in free flight.
Manned five crew. Atlantis (first flight); deployed USA 11, USA 12. Reusable space transportation system.
Orbits of Earth: 63. Landed at: Runway 23 dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, . Touchdown miss distance: 754.00 m. Landing Rollout: 2,455.00 m. Payloads: Classified DoD Mission - Record altitude (as of 5/93).
Planned EOM-1 shuttle mission. Cancelled after Challenger disaster. No crew named, later combined with STS-61K