Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman (born August 15, 1959) is a retired

United States Navy 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 ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and naval aviator,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

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 former

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 ...

. He is a veteran of four

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 ...

missions. His fourth mission on

STS-125 STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the last solo flight of the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. The launch of the Space Shuttle ''Atl ...

was the last servicing mission to the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ver ...

. As of November 2022, he is the president of the Space operating group for ASRC Federal.

Personal

Born in Lincoln, Illinois, Scott is married to the former Jill Shannon Loomer of

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

. They have three children, the second oldest of whom, Alex, graduated

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...

in Houston, Texas in May 2009. Hometown is Pekin, Illinois, where his parents, Fred and Sharon Altman, currently reside. The Pekin District 108 school board voted to honor the former astronaut by naming Scott Altman Primary School in 2010. Scott's sister Sarah Beardsley is the publisher of Venus Zine, a women's music, DIY and culture multi-media company. His callsigns have been "D-Bear" and ''Scooter''. He is a brother of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Education

* 1977: Graduated from Pekin Community High School, Pekin, Illinois * 1981: Received

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 aeronautical and

astronautical engineering Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field. The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astrona ...

from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity * 1990: Received

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 aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School

Military career

Commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy in August 1981, and received his Naval Aviator

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

in February 1983. As a member of Fighter Squadron 51 at (then) NAS Miramar, Altman completed two deployments to the Western Pacific and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

flying the F-14A Tomcat. In August 1987, he was selected for the Naval Postgraduate School- Test Pilot School Co-op program and graduated with Test Pilot School Class 97 in June 1990 as a Distinguished Graduate. After graduation, he spent the next two years as a

working on various F-14 projects at Strike Aircraft Test Directorate NAWC AD Patuxent River Maryland. Altman then took the new

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 ...

on its first operational deployment with VF-31 Tomcatters, where he served as maintenance officer and later operations officer. He was awarded the

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 ...

for his role as a strike leader flying over Southern

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

in support of Operation Southern Watch. Shortly following his return from this six-month deployment, he was selected for the NASA astronaut program. He has logged over 7,000 flight hours in more than 40 types of aircraft. He also performed many of the aerial stunts in the 1986 film '' Top Gun'', and was the pilot that "flipped the bird" at the enemy MiG pilot (played by Robert F. Willard).

NASA career

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

Lyndon B. 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 U ...

in March 1995. He completed a year of training and was initially assigned to work technical aspects of orbiter landing and roll out issues for the Astronaut Office Vehicle Systems Branch. He was the pilot on STS-90 (1998) and STS-106 (2000), and was the mission commander on STS-109 (2002) and

(2009). A veteran of four space flights, Altman has logged over 40 days in space. Altman retired from NASA in September 2010 to join ASRC Federal Research and Technology Solutions in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Spaceflights

STS-90 Neurolab (April 17 to May 3, 1998). During the 16-day Spacelab flight the seven person crew aboard

''Columbia'' served as both experiment subjects and operators for 26 individual life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system. STS-106 ''

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus'' and ''Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that bes ...

'' (September 8–20, 2000). During the 12-day mission, the crew successfully prepared the

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 ( ...

for the arrival of the first permanent crew. Additionally, he handflew two complete flyarounds of the station after undocking. STS-109 ''

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

'' (March 1–12, 2002). STS-109 was the fourth

(HST) servicing mission. The STS-109 crew successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit, a new camera and new solar arrays. HST servicing and upgrade was accomplished by four crewmembers during a total of 5 EVAs in 5 consecutive days. The space walkers were assisted by crewmates inside Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. STS-109 orbited the Earth 165 times, and covered 3.9 million miles in over 262 hours, culminating in a night landing 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 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 196 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

''Atlantis'' (May 11–24, 2009). STS-125 was the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. ''Atlantis'' carried two new instruments to the telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor, six gyroscopes, and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its operational lifespan. The mission also carried an IMAX camera and the crew documented the progress of the mission for an upcoming IMAX film.

Organizations

* University of Illinois Alumni Association * Sigma Chi Alumni Association * Association of Naval Aviation life member * Military Order of the World Wars

Awards and honors

* Defense Superior Service Medal *

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

* 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 ...

* Navy Strike/Flight Air Medal * Navy Commendation Medal * Navy Achievement Medal * NASA Distinguished Service Medal * 1987 Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Tactical Aviation as selected by the Association of Naval Aviation. * United States Astronaut Hall of Fame - 2018 * Awarded the

Order of Lincoln The Lincoln Academy of Illinois is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to recognizing contributions made by living Illinoisans. Named for Abraham Lincoln, the Academy administers the ''Order of Lincoln'', the highest award given ...

, Illinois' highest honor, on November 6, 2021, at the awards presentation.

''Top Gun''

In a NASA interview prior to his 2000 spaceflight, Scott Altman commented on his role as an F-14 pilot involved in the filming of '' Top Gun'':

References

External links

*
Spacefacts biography of Scott Altman
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altman, Scott 1959 births Living people United States Navy astronauts People from Pekin, Illinois Grainger College of Engineering alumni Naval Postgraduate School alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators American test pilots Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal People from Lincoln, Illinois United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees Space Shuttle program astronauts Military personnel from Illinois