Russell Louis "Rusty" Schweickart (also Schweikart; born October 25, 1935) is an American
aeronautical 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 ...
, and a former
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 ...
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 ...
,
research scientist,
U.S. Air Force fighter pilot
A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...
, as well as a former
business executive
A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.
Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...
and
government executive
''Government Executive'' is an American media publication based in Washington, D.C., that covers daily government business for civilians, federal bureaucrats, and military officials. ''Government Executive'' is part of GovExec, which is owned ...
.
Schweickart was selected in 1963 for
NASA's third astronaut group. He was the
Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed s ...
Pilot on the 1969
Apollo 9
Apollo 9 (March 3–13, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program, which successfully tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon. The three-man crew consisted of Commander James McDivitt, Command Modul ...
mission, the first crewed flight test of the lunar module, on which he performed the first in-space test of the
portable life support system used by the Apollo astronauts who walked on the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
. As backup commander of the
first crewed Skylab mission in 1973, he was responsible for developing the hardware and procedures used by the first crew to perform critical in-flight repairs of the
Skylab station. After Skylab, he served for a time as Director of User Affairs in NASA's Office of Applications.
Schweickart left NASA in 1977 to serve for two years as
California Governor Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
's assistant for science and technology, then was appointed by Brown to
California's Energy Commission for five and a half years, serving as
chairman
The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
for three.
In 1984–85, Schweickart co-founded the
Association of Space Explorers
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 associatio ...
and later in 2002 co-founded the
B612 Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending Earth from
asteroid impacts, along with fellow former astronaut
Ed Lu and two planetary scientists. He served for a period as its chair before becoming its chair
emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
.
Early life and education
Rusty Schweickart was born October 25, 1935, in
Neptune Township, New Jersey, and grew up on a "hardscrabble" farm of producing hay and vegetables plus raising poultry and cows. As a youth his ambition was to be 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 ...
and a
cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
.
After graduating from
Manasquan High School in 1952, he earned 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
aeronautical engineering on scholarship (1956) and 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 ...
degree in
aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere.
While the term originally referred ...
and
astronautics
Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the practice of sending spacecraft beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science is its overarching field.
The term ''astronautics' ...
(1963) from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
.
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 ...
. He earned the rank of
First Class. His hobbies include
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
bicycling, and
hiking
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time.
"Hi ...
. He was married twice and has seven children.
His family's stated annual income when he received his
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...
scholarship after graduating high school was listed as $1800 ().
Military and NASA career

Schweickart served in the
U.S. Air Force and
Massachusetts Air National Guard (
101st Tactical Fighter Squadron) from 1956 to 1963, with over 4,000 hours of flight time, including 3,500 hours in high performance
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 ...
.
Prior to joining NASA, Schweickart was a
research scientist at the Experimental Astronomy Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his work there involved research upper
atmospheric physics, star tracking and stabilization of stellar images.
His thesis for a master's degree at MIT concerned stratospheric radiance.
Schweickart was chosen as part of
NASA Astronaut Group 3
NASA Astronaut Group 3 (nicknamed "The Fourteen") was a group of fourteen astronauts selected by NASA for the Project Gemini, Gemini and Apollo program. Their selection was announced in October 1963. Seven were from the United States Air Force, ...
in October 1963. He was the youngest in the group. The third group of astronauts performed jungle training. Schweickart partnered with
Clifton Williams.
On March 21, 1966, he was named as the backup pilot for
Roger B. Chaffee on
Apollo 1
Apollo 1, initially designated AS-204, was planned to be the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, the American undertaking to land the first man on the Moon. It was planned to launch on February 21, 1967, as the first low Earth orbital ...
—which was to have been the first crewed Apollo flight but was destroyed during a ground test accident. His fellow crewmen were backup Command Pilot
James McDivitt
James Alton McDivitt Jr. (June 10, 1929 – October 13, 2022) was an American test pilot, United States Air Force (USAF) pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut in the Project Gemini, Gemini and Apollo programs. He joined the USAF in ...
and Senior Pilot
David Scott
David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the List of Apollo astronauts#People who have walked on the Moon, seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the NASA Astronaut ...
, both veterans of
Project Gemini
Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
.
In December 1966, this crew was promoted to fly the first crewed Earth orbital test of the
Apollo Lunar Module
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed sp ...
(LM), with Schweickart as Lunar Module Pilot.
Spaceflight experience
Apollo 9
Apollo 9 (March 3–13, 1969) was the third human spaceflight in NASA's Apollo program, which successfully tested systems and procedures critical to landing on the Moon. The three-man crew consisted of Commander James McDivitt, Command Modul ...
was flown in March 1969. Schweickart spent just over 241 hours in space, and performed the first
extravehicular activity
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable atmosphere of Earth, Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environme ...
(EVA) of the Apollo program, testing the
portable life support system that was later used by the twelve astronauts who walked on the Moon. The flight plan called for him to demonstrate an emergency transfer from the lunar module to the
command module (CM) using handrails on the LM, but he began to suffer from
space adaptation syndrome on the first day in orbit, forcing the postponement of the EVA.

Eventually, he improved enough to perform a relatively brief EVA with his feet restrained on the LM "porch" (a platform used in transferring to the descent ladder), while Command Module Pilot Scott performed a stand-up EVA through the open hatch of the CM. During a five-minute pause tethered outside his spacecraft, Schweickart felt he underwent a metaphysical experience as he stared at the Earth, contemplating its place in the universe.
He subsequently practiced
Transcendental Meditation based on his experience.
Skylab and beyond
Although
Deke Slayton (who was responsible for all flight assignments as Director of Flight Crew Operations) opined that Schweickart "would have been a logical lunar module pilot" on subsequent lunar missions—indeed, the standard rotation of the era would have placed him on the backup crew for
Apollo 12 and the prime crew of
Apollo 15
Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...
—"that bout of space sickness had everybody worried ... it didn't seem like a good idea to put him back in ... at this point."
Following his mission, Schweickart "basically called the shot that I really didn't want to be assigned to a flight until we knew more about motion sickness" and became "
motion sickness guinea pig" for six months; while "
edidn't learn that much" during the testing, it is now accepted that as many as half of space travelers suffer from space adaptation syndrome to some extent.
The protracted testing period also contributed to Schweickart not being assigned to the Apollo 12 backup crew. When he returned to Houston, "
Al Shepard layton's deputy for whatever reason, instead of putting me back on Apollo, put me on to
Skylab
Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...
... Al had his own agenda of who went where and whatnot. So I cycled into Skylab at the time."
Schweickart has also observed that he was "not one of Al's boys", alluding to the political
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
that he shared with his then-wife, Clare; Slayton felt that her fervent political stances (including
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
activism) "caused him a few problems with his colleagues."
During this period, a Houston radio broadcaster characterized Schweickart as "the closest thing to a
freak astronaut" after he was photographed escorting
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on a tour of NASA's headquarters.
Along with backup science pilot
Story Musgrave and backup pilot
Bruce McCandless II, Schweickart was assigned as backup commander of
Skylab 2, the first crewed American
space station
A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...
mission, which flew during the spring of 1973. Following the loss of the space station's thermal shield during launch, he assumed responsibility for the development of hardware and procedures for erecting an emergency solar shade and deploying a jammed solar array wing, operations that saved the space station.
After serving on the support crew of
Skylab 4, Schweickart was more interested in cultivating managerial skills than "
oingover to 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. ...
development work which was under way ... by that time, I had, you know, done a lot of work on Gemini in a support role, and then, of course, everything on Apollo, and now all of this on Skylab, and to go cycle back into the very beginning of the Space Shuttle, which was not going to fly for, at that point, something like six years and best guess of anybody in the business was maybe eight years, I figured, you know, another eight years of basically going to the same kinds of meetings, making the same kinds of decisions, going to the same places ... it was like 'been there, done that.'"
While retaining his flight status, he was reassigned to NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as Director of User Affairs in the Office of Applications in 1974. In this capacity, he was responsible for transferring NASA technology (primarily
Landsat 1 applications) to the outside world and working with technology users (including the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and water resources managers) to bring an understanding of their needs into NASA. He came to regard this as a "thankless position" and a "very hard sell" to potential clients due to their intrinsic resistance to new processes; this and the dearth of immediate flight opportunities ultimately precipitated his departure from NASA in 1977.
Post-NASA career
Schweickart then served for two years as
California Governor Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
's assistant for science and technology before being appointed by Brown to the
California Energy Commission for five and a half years.
Inspired by his friendship with
Michael Murphy and involvement in the
Esalen Institute's Soviet-American Exchange Program, Schweickart established the
Association of Space Explorers
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 associatio ...
(ASE) in 1984–85 along with
cosmonaut
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 ...
s
Alexei Leonov,
Vitaly Sevastyanov, and
Georgi Grechko; the organization is open to all people who have flown in orbit around the Earth.
He also chaired the ASE's
near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...
committee, which produced a benchmark report and submitted it to the
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) on ''Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response''.
Schweickart retired from ALOHA Networks, Inc. in 1998 where he served as
President and
Chief Executive Officer
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 ...
from 1996 through 1998. ALOHA was a data communications company specializing in high performance, wireless internet access equipment.
Schweickart was formerly the Executive
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 ...
of CTA Commercial Systems, Inc. and Director of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Systems. Schweickart led CTA's efforts in developing the GEMnet system, a second generation LEO communication satellite constellation designed to provide regular commercial electronic messaging services on a global basis. Prior to his CTA work, Schweickart founded and was President of Courier Satellite Services, Inc., a global satellite communications company that developed LEO satellites to provide worldwide affordable data services.
Schweickart's satellite and telecommunications work involved him in the development of international communications regulations and policies, including participation in the 1992 and 1995
World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRC) of the
International Telecommunication Union
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU:
*
* is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...
(ITU). He served at the 1995 WRC as a U.S. delegate. He also worked extensively in Russia and the former
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
on scientific and telecommunications matters.
In 2002 he co-founded the
B612 Foundation along with fellow former-astronaut
Ed Lu and two planetary scientists, also serving as its Chair.
[Our Team , Rusty Schweickart, Chair Emeritus](_blank)
, B612 Foundation, SentinelMission.org website. Retrieved June 29, 2014. The
B612 Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to defending Earth from
asteroid impacts.
In May 2005 Schweickart testified before the
U.S. Congress on the dangers of an asteroid impact related to
99942 Apophis. and in 2010 served as the co-chairman, along with astronaut
Tom Jones, NASA Advisory Council's ''ad hoc'' Task Force on Planetary Defense. He has been an advocate of increasing NASA's annual budget by $250M–$300M over a 10-year period to more fully catalog the NEOs that can pose a threat to Earth and also provide a deflection capability.
[Schweickart, Russell; Johnson, Erik T. (illustrator]
Humans to Asteroids: Watch Out!
, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' website, October 25, 2010, and in print on October 26, 2010, p. A29 of the New York edition. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
Schweickart has also spoken and taught at the
Esalen Institute, and currently serves as the B612 Foundation's
Chair Emeritus.
Organizations
Schweickart is a
fellow
A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the
American Astronautical Society and the
International Academy of Astronautics, and an associate fellow of the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is also an honorary
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
and a fellow of the
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...
.
Awards and honors

He was awarded the
NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1969) and the
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale De la Vaulx Medal (1970) for his Apollo 9 flight. He also received the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of televisio ...
Special Trustees Award (
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
) in 1969 for transmitting the first live TV pictures from space. In 1973, Schweickart was also awarded the
NASA Exceptional Service Medal for his leadership role in the Skylab rescue efforts. He was inducted into the
International Space Hall of Fame in 1983 and the
U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997. Main-belt asteroid was named in his honor.
In 2012, Schweickart was inducted into the
International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum
The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building (San Diego), Ford Building, which is li ...
.
In 1892, his grandfather Jacques Schweickart emigrated
from
Lembach, a small town located in
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, to the United States. After visiting Lembach several times, Schweickart has been awarded honorary citizenship of the town.
Biographies and portrayals
In the 1998
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
miniseries
In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...
''
From the Earth to the Moon
''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...
'', Schweickart is portrayed by
Kieran Mulroney. He also appeared in the television series
''The Universe'' in the episodes "The End of the Earth: Deep Space Threats to Our Planet" and "Stopping Armageddon".
See also
*
B612 Foundation
*
Spaceguard
*
The Astronaut Monument
References
External links
Official website of Rusty Schweickart*
* , video, 8:50
by Russell Schweickart
Question & Answer session with Rusty Schweickartafter a talk he gave at CERN, June 1969, audio, 46:39
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schweickart, Russell
1935 births
1969 in spaceflight
20th-century American businesspeople
American aerospace engineers
American business executives
Apollo 9
Apollo program astronauts
Aviators from New Jersey
Emmy Award winners
Engineers from New Jersey
Living people
Manasquan High School alumni
Massachusetts National Guard personnel
Military personnel from Monmouth County, New Jersey
MIT School of Engineering alumni
NASA civilian astronauts
NASA people
People from Neptune Township, New Jersey
Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal
Spacewalkers
United States Air Force officers
United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees