William Thornton
William Edgar Thornton born April 14, 1929 in Faison, North Carolina. Received a bachelor of science degree in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1952), and received a doctorate in medicine from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1963). Following graduation from the University of North Carolina and having completed Air Force ROTC training, Thornton served as officer-in-charge of the Instrumentation Lab at the Flight Test Air Proving Ground. He later became a consultant to Air Proving Ground Command. As chief engineer of the electronics division of the Del Mar Engineering Labs at Los Angeles from 1956 to 1959, he also organized and directed its Avionics Division. He returned to the University of North Carolina Medical School in 1959, graduated in 1963, and completed internship training in 1964 at the Wilford Hall USAF Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Thornton developed and designed the first mass measuring devices for space, which remain in use today. Thornton was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. As a member of the Astronaut Office Operations Missions Development group, Thornton was responsible for developing crew procedures and techniques for deployable payloads, and for maintenance of crew conditions in flight. He developed advanced techniques for, and made studies in, kinesiology and kinesimetry related to space operations. Thornton holds more than 60 patents that range from military weapons systems through the first real-time EKG computer analysis. Space-related items include the first in-flight mass measurement devices, shock and vibration isolation systems, an improved waste collection system, an improved lower body negative pressure (LBNP) apparatus, and others. Thornton wycofał się z NASA z dniem 31 maja 1994 r.
Spaceflights:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 STS-8 MSP 30.08. - 05.09.1983 6d 01h 08m
2 STS-51B MSP 29.04. - 06.05.1985 7d 00h 08m
Total 13d 01h 16m
