James Dougal Adrianus "Ox" van Hoften (born June 11, 1944) is an American civil and

hydraulic engineer Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

, retired U.S. Navy officer and

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

, and a former

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Personal data

Van Hoften was born June 11, 1944, in

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He was active in the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

where he achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. He considers Burlingame, California, to be his hometown. He is of Dutch descent. Van Hoften is married to the former Vallarie Davis of Pasadena, with three children. He enjoys

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

, playing

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...

, and

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

. In college, he was a member of the Alpha Sigma chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Education

Graduated from

Mills High School Mills High School is a Public school (government funded), public high school in Millbrae, California, Millbrae, California, one of eight in the San Mateo Union High School District. Mills was established in 1958. Mills High School has been name ...

Millbrae, California Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. To the northeast is San Francisco International Airport; San Bruno, California, San Bruno is to the northwest, and Burlingame, Cal ...

, in 1962; received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1966; a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degree in

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the move ...

from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

in 1968 and 1976, respectively.

Flight experience

From 1969 to 1974, Van Hoften was a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. He received

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, and completed jet pilot training at Beeville, Texas, in November 1970. He was then assigned to the

Naval Air Station A Naval Air Station (NAS) is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy (Naval aviation). These bases are typically populated by squadron ...

, Miramar, California, to fly F-4 Phantoms, and subsequently to VF-121 Replacement Air Group. As a pilot with VF-154 assigned to the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

USS ''Ranger'' in 1972, Van Hoften participated in two cruises to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

where he flew approximately 60 combat missions during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. He resumed his academic studies in 1974, and completed a dissertation on the interaction of waves and turbulent channel flow for his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. In September 1976, he accepted an assistant professorship of

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

, and until his selection as an astronaut candidate, taught

fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

and conducted research on biomedical fluid flows concerning flows in artificial internal organs and valves. Dr. Van Hoften has published a number of papers on

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...

, waves, and cardiovascular flows. From 1977 until 1980 he flew F-4N's with Naval Reserve Fighter Squadron 201 at NAS Dallas and then three years as a member of the Texas Air National Guard with the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group at

Ellington Field Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegi ...

as a pilot in the F-4C. He has logged 3,300 hours flying time, the majority in

jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...

NASA career

Dr. Van Hoften was selected as an astronaut candidate by

in January 1978. He completed a 1-year training and evaluation period in August 1979. From 1979 through the first flight, STS-1, Van Hoften supported the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

entry and on-orbit guidance,

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

and flight control testing at the Flight Systems Laboratory at

Downey, California Downey is a city located in Southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities. The city is the birthplace of the Apollo space program and Taco Bell. It is ...

. Subsequently, he was lead of the Astronaut Support Team at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, Florida, responsible for the Space Shuttle turn-around testing and flight preparations. He served as a

mission specialist Mission specialist (MS) is a term for a specific position held by astronauts who are tasked with conducting a range of scientific, medical, or engineering experiments during a spaceflight mission. These specialists were usually assigned to a s ...

on STS-41-C in 1984, and STS-51-I in 1985. Dr. Van Hoften has logged a total 338 hours in space, including 22 hours of EVA flight time.

Spaceflight experience

STS-41-C: ''Challenger'' (April 6–13, 1984) was launched from the

, Florida, and returned to land at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

, California. During the 7-day mission the crew successfully deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF); retrieved the ailing Solar Maximum Mission satellite, repaired it on board the orbiting ''Challenger'' and replaced it in orbit, using the robot arm called the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The mission also included flight testing of

Manned Maneuvering Unit The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is an astronaut propulsion unit that was used by NASA on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered Extravehicular activity, extravehicular spacewalks at a dist ...

s (MMU's) in two extra-vehicular activities (EVA's); operation of the Cinema 360 and

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

Camera Systems, as well as a Bee Hive Honeycomb Structures student experiment. The mission was accomplished in 107 Earth orbits in 167 hours, 40 minutes, 7 seconds. STS-51-I: ''Discovery'' (August 27 to September 3, 1985) launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During this mission, the crew successfully deployed three communications satellites, the Navy's Syncom IV-4, Australian AUSSAT, and American Satellite Company's ASC-1. The crew also performed the successful salvage of the ailing Navy Syncom IV-3 satellite. These tasks included two extravehicular activities (EVA's) in which Dr. Van Hoften attached to the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) performed the first manual grapple and manual deployment of a satellite in orbit. The mission also included the Physical Vapor Transport of Organic Solids (PVTOS), the second material processing experiment to be flown aboard a Shuttle for 3M. The mission was accomplished in 112 orbits of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

in 171 hours, 17 minutes, 42 seconds.

Post-NASA career

Dr. Van Hoften is a former senior

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

and partner of the

Bechtel Corporation Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the ''Enginee ...

. He was

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the global airport design and construction business and was responsible for airport developments in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, Japan, and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. In the early 1990s, he was the

program manager Program Manager is the shell of Windows 3.x and Windows NT 3.x operating systems. This shell exposed a task-oriented graphical user interface (GUI), consisting of ''icons'' ( shortcuts for programs) arranged into ''program groups''. It replaced ...

of the $23 billion Hong Kong Airport Core Programme including the new Hong Kong Airport. He later acted as Director of Projects for the UK National Air Traffic Services. In 2009 he was appointed a non-executive director of

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...

Organizations

Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...

, Chi Epsilon, and Pi Kappa Alpha.

Awards and honors

* Meritorious Service Medal * Navy Air Medals, twice *

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It was awarded to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces who served during any one of four s ...

Vietnam Service Medal The Vietnam Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces established on 8 July 1965 by order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The medal is awarded to recognize service during the Vietnam War by all members of the U.S. ...

* NASA Space Flight Medals, twice

Physical description

*Weight: 200 lb (91 kg) *Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) *Hair: Brown *Eyes: Hazel

References

External links

*
Astronautix biography of James van Hoften
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Hoften, James 1944 births Living people 1984 in spaceflight 1985 in spaceflight American astronauts Aviators from California American civil engineers American business executives United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators People from Fresno, California American people of Dutch descent United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Colorado State University alumni Recipients of the Air Medal University of Houston faculty Engineers from California Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers Military personnel from California