Scott Jay "Doc" Horowitz (born March 24, 1957) is a retired American astronaut and a veteran of four

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. ...

missions.

Biography

Horowitz went to

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

in 1974 where he earned his B.S. degree in engineering in 1978; he subsequently obtained a

Ph.D. 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 graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in

aerospace engineering 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 ...

from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

in 1982, and then worked as a scientist for Lockheed Company.

NASA career

Horowitz joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

and flew as a

T-38 T38 or T-38 may refer to: Aviation * Allison T38, an American turboprop aircraft engine * Northrop T-38 Talon, an American jet trainer aircraft * Slingsby T.38 Grasshopper, a British training glider Other uses * T38 (classification), a disabi ...

and

F-15 The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's des ...

pilot while also teaching courses in aircraft design and propulsion at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and later

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

. He graduated from the

United States Air Force Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new aerospace w ...

in Dec, 1990 as a member of class 90-A. Horowitz was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1992, and piloted missions

STS-75 STS-75 was a 1996 NASA Space Shuttle mission, the 19th mission of the orbiter. Crew Crew seat assignments Mission objective Tethered Satellite System The primary objective of STS-75 was to carry the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TS ...

(1996),

STS-82 STS-82 was the 22nd flight of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery'' and the 82nd mission of the Space Shuttle program. It was NASA's second mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, during which ''Discovery's'' crew repai ...

(1997) and

STS-101 STS-101 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Atlantis''. The mission was a 10-day mission conducted between 19 May 2000 and 29 May 2000. The mission was designated 2A.2a and was a resuppl ...

(2000). He commanded mission

STS-105 STS-105 was the 30th mission of Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', in which Discovery went to the International Space Station. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 10 August 2001. This mission was ''Discoverys final mission until STS ...

(2001), a visit to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

for equipment and crew transfer. In ''STS-75'', Horowitz and Jeffrey A. Hoffman, both Jewish, had alternating use of the same bunk bed, to which Hoffman attached, upon Horowitz's request, a

mezuzah A ''mezuzah'' ( "doorpost"; plural: ''mezuzot'') is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew language, Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jews affix in a small case to the doorposts of their homes. These verses are the Biblical pa ...

, using Velcro. Horowitz retired from the United States Air Force and NASA in October 2004. He returned to NASA in September 2005 to become the Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, in charge of the return of America to the Moon during the next decade.

Interim

During his interim away from NASA, Horowitz held a senior executive position with

ATK Thiokol Thiokol was an American corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems. Its name is a portmanteau of the Greek language, Greek words for sulfur () and glue (), an allusion ...

, the makers of the

solid rocket boosters A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give launch ...

. While there, he developed some ideas he had for new types of launch vehicles that used only solid fuel rockets. His ideas were crucial to the development of the mission hardware NASA has adopted for the

Vision for Space Exploration The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was a plan for space exploration announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. It was conceived as a response to the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster, the state of human spaceflight at NASA, ...

. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin invited Horowitz back to NASA as an associate administrator so he could lead the effort to develop this hardware. On July 11, 2007, Horowitz announced his intent to leave NASA effective October 1, 2007.

Space flight experience

(February 22 – March 9, 1996: 15 days, 7 hours) :::: Tethered satellite reflight, lost due to broken tether *

(February 11 – February 21, 1997: 9 days, 23 hours) ::::

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

servicing *

(May 19 – May 29, 2000: 9 days, 21 hours) ::::

supply mission *

(August 10 – August 22, 2001: 11 days, 21 hours) ::::

supply mission & crew rotation

Post NASA

Horowitz has been active in advocating reorienting NASA's focus to human exploration of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, with the goals of permanent human outposts and settlements on the red planet. Horowitz is a member of the steering committee of the

Mars Society The Mars Society is a nonprofit organization that advocates for human exploration and colonization of Mars. It was founded by Robert Zubrin in 1998 and its principles are based on Zubrin's Mars Direct philosophy, which aims to make human miss ...

. On one of his space shuttle flights as commander, he had the Mars Society's Martian flag hoisted up a mast out of the space shuttle payload bay, and flew the shuttle under the

flag of Mars A flag of Mars is a concept of a possible flag design, meant to symbolize the planet Mars or to represent a fictional Martian government, in works of fiction. Proposed flags Thomas O. Paine's design Thomas O. Paine, who served as the third Admi ...

. He later presented the Martian flag that had flown above the space shuttle to

Robert Zubrin Robert Zubrin (; born April 9, 1952) is an American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He is also an advocate for U.S. space superiority, writing that "in the 21st century, victory on land, sea or in the air ...

at a conference of the

. In January 2018, Horowitz joined the board of advisors of the DAV foundation.

References

External links

NASA Biography

NASA - Scott Horowitz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horowitz, Scott J. 1957 births 20th-century American Jews California State University, Northridge alumni Georgia Tech alumni Living people Lockheed Martin people Mars Society Space Shuttle program astronauts United States Air Force officers U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Air Force astronauts 21st-century American Jews