Donald K. ‘Deke’ Slayton (1924-1993)

CAREER

1942-1946: Served in the Army Air Corps; completed flight training and flew 56 combat missions in B-25 bombers over Europe with the 340^th Bombardment Group; retired to US to become an instructor pilot and later as a proficiency pilot on the A-26 bomber. Completed 7 combat missions in A-26s in the  Pacific theatre with the  319^th Bombardment Group; served as a B-25 instructor pilot for a year after the end of WWII.; (1946) honourably discharged from Air Force

1947-1949: StudentUniversity of Minnesota

1949-1951: Engineer, Boeing aircraft Company, Seattle, Washington where he worked on electrical systems and wing designs

1951-1963: Recalled to active duty  as a maintenance flight test officer with F-51 squadron; then as a technical inspector at Headquarters Twelfth Air Force; then  with the 36^th Fighter Day Wing at Bitburg Germany; (1955) returned to USA and attended USAF Test Pilot School, Edwards AFB California, serving as a test pilot there from 1956 to 1959. He resigned from the USAF to continue as a civilian employee at NASA in 1963

ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1959:   (09.04) Selected as one of seven Original Mercury Astronauts by NASA; Mercury training; (Jul) speciality assignment area – Atlas launch vehicle; Mercury training

1960:   Mercury training

1961:   Mercury training; (May) Capcom MR-3 (Shepard); Mercury training; (Jul) Capcom MR-4 (Grissom); Mercury training; (Nov) informed he would fly MA-7 the second orbital mission; (29.11) named Pilot MA-7 (‘Delta 7’); Mercury training

1962: Mercury training; (15.03) Slayton removed from MA-7 due to medical issues and Carpenter is public ally named to replace Slayton on MA-7; Mercury support; (May) Capcom MA-7; Mercury support; (Oct) Capcom MA-8 (Schirra); (18.10) Coordinator of Astronaut Activities, MSC.

1962-1963: Coordinator of Astronaut Activities (Chief Astronaut); (Nov 1963) resigned from USAF and assumed role of Director of Flight Crew Operations, MSC

1966-1972: Director of Flight Crew ~Operations MSC

1972: (13.03) returned to flight status; Director FCO MSC; nominated (himself) for ASTP; (late) informed Docking module Pilot ASTP

1973:   (30 Jan) named Docking Module Pilot (DMP) Apollo 18, the US Apollo Soyuz Test Project spacecraft; ASTP training; some of his work as Director FCOD assumed by Al Shepard until 1974

1974:   ASTP training; (Feb) resigned as Director FCO to assume full time preparation for ASTP; ASTP training including visitors to the USSR

1975:   ASTP training including trips to the USSR; (15-24 Jul) DMP Apollo 18, ASTP (217 hrs 18 min) including 44 hours of joint docking operations with Soyuz 19; Slayton  spent a total of  1 hr 35 min inside Soyuz 19; (Sep-Oct) two 2-week tours across USA and USSR  retired from Astronaut Office and FCOD

SPACEFLIGHT RECORD

POST ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCE

Dec 1975 – Nov 1977: Manager Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California

Nov 1977 – Feb 1982: Manager Shuttle Orbital Flight Test Program NASA JSC; (Feb 1981) officially retired but remained on in a temporary position as a rehired annuitant during initial Shuttle Orbital Test Flight Program

Feb 27 1982: Departed from NASA

1982-1993: President and  vice chairman of Space Services Inc; (1983) Space Service Inc formed a joint company with American Science  and Technology and Aero Data Corporation – Space America Inc with Slayton as chairman and director.

Jun 13 1993: Died of brain cancer aged 69. His autobiography Deke: US Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle with Michael Cassutt was published posthumously in 1994