Taufik Akbar

Taufik Akbar (born January 8 1951 in Medan) is an Indonesian engineer and former astronaut candidate.

After graduating at the Bandung Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1975, he worked as a telecommunications engineer. Working for Telkom in the development of the Palapa telecommunication satellite system, in October 1985 he was selected to take part in the Space Shuttle mission STS-61-H as a Payload Specialist. While Pratiwi Sudarmono was chosen to be in the flight crew, he was supposed to be her backup on the mission. However after the Challenger disaster the deployment of commercial satellites like the Indonesian Palapa B-3 planned for that mission was canceled, thus the mission never took place. The satellite was later launched with a Delta rocket.

After his astronaut career, he continued to work for Telkom. In 1990-92 he was General ManagerTelecommunication Planning, Executive General Manager for Palapa Satellites Operation (1992-1993), President Director of Aplikanusa Lintasarta (1994-2000). In 2000, he became Director of Human Resources.

Persondata
NAME=Akbar, Taufik
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Engineer, astronaut candidate
DATE OF BIRTH=January 8 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH=Medan, Indonesia
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=