Joe Frank Edwards Jr. (born February 3, 1958), (

Cmdr Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

USN The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

, Ret.), is an American

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

,former

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent cont ...

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 ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Early life and education

Edwards was born February 3, 1958, in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, but considers both Lineville, and Roanoke

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

to be his hometowns. He graduated from Lineville High School in 1976 and earned a

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

degree in

Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

in 1980. In 1994, he received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

degree in

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

Systems from

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...

Career

Edwards was designated a

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-base ...

in February 1982. He was assigned to Fighter Squadron 143 (

VF-143 Fighter Squadron 143 or VF-143 was an aviation unit of the United States Navy originally established as a Naval Reserve squadron VF-821 on 20 July 1950 it was redesignated VF-143 on 4 February 1953 and disestablished on 1 April 1958. Operational ...

) in 1983, after completion of

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after t ...

training, and flew fighter escort and reconnaissance

combat mission ''Combat Mission'' is the name of a successful series of computer wargames simulating tactical battles. The series has progressed through two distinct game engines. The original game engine, referred to as 'CMx1' by the developer, Battlefront.co ...

s over

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

in 1983. He graduated from the

Navy Fighter Weapons School The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), more popularly known as Top Gun (stylized as TOPGUN), teaches fighter and strike tactics and techniques to selected United States Naval Aviator, naval aviators ...

(TOPGUN) in 1984 and from

U.S. Naval Test Pilot School The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, provides instruction to experienced United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and foreign military experi ...

in 1986. He subsequently worked as project flight test officer and pilot for

F-14A The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

(PLUS) and

F-14D The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

Full Scale Development. He flew the first Navy flight of the F-14D and a high

angle of attack In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is ...

/departure from controlled flight test program for the F-14 airframe/F110 engine integration. He served as Operations and Maintenance Officer in Fighter Squadron 142 (

VF-142 VF-142 ''Ghostriders'' was a US Navy fighter squadron established on 24 August 1948 as VF-193, it was redesignated VF-142 on 15 October 1963, and disestablished on 30 April 1995. History Late 1940s to the 1970s Fighter Squadron 193 (VF-193) w ...

) from 1989 to 1992. He worked as Operations Officer in the Operations Directorate of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and t ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

from 1992 to 1994. He has flown 4,000 hours in over 25 different

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...

and logged over 650 carrier-arrested landings. On November 13, 1991, while serving as maintenance officer of VF-142, he was flying in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

Mach Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to: Computing * Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology * ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI * GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...

0.9 at when the radome separated from his airplane, impacted, and destroyed his canopy. With a blinded eye, collapsed lung, broken arm and no communications or flight instruments, he recovered his "convertible" Tomcat with his

Radar Intercept Officer A naval flight officer (NFO) is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots (naval aviators), but they may perform many "co-pilot" or ...

LCDR LCDR may refer to: * The London, Chatham and Dover Railway * The rank of lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. ...

Scott Grundmeier hunkered down in the rear cockpit and landed aboard the aircraft carrier . He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this superior display of airmanship under grave circumstances.

NASA career

Selected as an astronaut by NASA in December 1994, Edwards reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late ...

in March 1995. He worked on technical issues for the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially 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. Its official program na ...

and

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

in the Safety Department of the Astronaut Office. He also served as Technical Assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations Directorate, NASA Director of Operations (DOR), Russia, and Astronaut

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

representative in Mission Control for Shuttle ascent and entry. Edwards flew on

STS-89 STS-89 was a Space Shuttle mission to the ''Mir'' space station flown by Space Shuttle '' Endeavour'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 22 January 1998. Crew Crew notes STS-89 was originally scheduled to return Wendy B. Law ...

(January 22–31, 1998), the eighth Shuttle-

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

docking mission, during which the crew transferred more than of scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from to Mir. In the fifth and last exchange of a U.S. astronaut, STS-89 delivered

Andy Thomas Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas, AO (born 18 December 1951) is an Australian and American aerospace engineer and a former NASA astronaut. He has dual nationality; he became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's a ...

to Mir and returned with David Wolf. Mission duration was 8 days, 19 hours and 47 seconds, traveling 3.6 million miles (5.8 million km) in 138 orbits of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

Awards and memberships

Edwards is a member of the

Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggest ...

Association of Naval Aviation Association may refer to: * Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal * Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry * Voluntary associa ...

, and the

U.S. Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the Naval Institute holds s ...

. He has received the

Defense Superior Service Medal The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant ...

, Distinguished Flying Cross,

Defense Meritorious Service Medal The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) is an award bestowed upon members of the United States military by the United States Department of Defense. In the order of precedence of the United States Armed Forces, it is worn between the Purpl ...

Air Medal The Air Medal (AM) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. It was created in 1942 and is awarded for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. Criteria The Air Medal was establish ...

Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fift ...

Navy Achievement Medal The Achievement Medal is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The Achievement Medal was first proposed as a means to recognize outstanding achievement or meritorious service of military personnel who were not eligible to recei ...

, Daedalian Superior Airmanship Award 1992, Fighter

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, d ...

143 Fighter Pilot of the Year, 1984, 1985, Fighter Squadron 142 Fighter Pilot of the Year, 1990, 1991, 1992.

Carrier Air Wing 7 Carrier Air Wing Seven (CVW-7) is a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. At the moment, CVW-7 is assigned to the USS George H. W. Bush. The tail code of aircraft assigned to CVW-7 is AG. Mi ...

Pilot of the Year, 1985, 1990, 1991.

Personal life

Edwards retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy on April 30, 2000. He is married to the former Janet Leigh Ragan of

Leonardtown, Maryland Leonardtown is a town in and the county seat of St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,563 at the 2020 census. Leonardtown is perhaps most famous for the national oyster-shucking championship that is held annually at th ...

. His parents, Joe Frank and Jane McMurray Edwards, are deceased and formerly resided in

Roanoke, Alabama Roanoke is a city in Randolph County, which is in the Piedmont region of eastern Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,311, down from 6,074 in 2010 and 6,563 in 2000. History Roanoke was occupied by the C ...

References

External links

Space facts biography of Joe F. Edwards Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Joe Frank Jr. 1958 births Living people 1998 in spaceflight United States Navy astronauts Military personnel from Richmond, Virginia People from Lineville, Alabama United States Naval Academy alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni University of Tennessee alumni American aerospace engineers United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators Aviators from Virginia American test pilots Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Engineers from Virginia Space Shuttle program astronauts Mir crew members