George Nelson
Nelson was born July 13, 1950 in Charles City, Iowa. He received a B.S. degree in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1972 and a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Washington in 1974 and 1978, respectively. Dr. Nelson performed astronomical research at the Sacramento Peak Solar Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico; the Astronomical Institute at Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands) and the University of Göttingen Observatory, (Göttingen, West Germany), and at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (Boulder, Colorado). His current research is in systemic education reform and the preparation of science teachers. George was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978. He flew as a scientific equipment operator in the WB 57-F earth resources aircraft and served as the Astronaut Office representative in the Space Shuttle Extravehicular Mobility Unit (space suit) development effort. During STS-1 he was the photographer in the prime chase plane. He also served as support crewman and CAPCOM for the last two OFT flights, STS-3 and STS-4, and as head of the Astronaut Office Mission Development Group. A veteran of three space flights, Nelson served aboard STS-41-C in 1984, STS-61C in 1986 and STS-26 in 1988. He has logged a total of 411 hours in space, including 10 hours of EVA flight time. Nelson left NASA in 1989, became an assistant provost at the University of Washington,
Spaceflights:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 STS-41C MSP 06.04. - 13.04.1984 6d 23h 40m
2 STS-61C MSP 12.01. - 18.01.1986 6d 02h 03m
3 STS-26 MSP 29.09. - 03.10.1988 4d 01h 00m
Total 17d 02h 43m
