James D. Halsell

Infobox Astronaut
name =James Donald Halsell, Jr.


type =NASA Astronaut
status =Retired
nationality =American
date_birth =birth date and age|1956|9|29
place_birth =West Monroe, Louisiana
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =Colonel, USAF
selection =1990 NASA Group.
time =52d 10h 34m
mission =STS-65, STS-74, STS-83, STS-94, STS-101
insignia =|

James Donald Halsell, Jr. (born 29 September 1956) is a United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions. He has been quoted as saying he loves floating in zero gravity. "The coolest thing about being an astronaut is getting to throw Skittles and M&Ms and whatnot around and watching them float," Halsell has said.

Halsell was born and raised in West Monroe, Louisiana and attended the United States Air Force Academy. After training as a test pilot, he worked on F-4, F-16 and SR-71 aircraft. Halsell was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1990 and was trained as a Space Shuttle pilot. He piloted missions STS-65 (1994) and STS-74 (1995), and commanded missions STS-83, STS-94 (1997) and STS-101 (2000).

He retired from NASA in November 2006 to accept a position with ATK Launch Systems in Utah.

As a side note, there is another James Donald Halsell who may be distantly related to James Donald Halsell Jr. currently on active duty in the United States Navy.

External links

* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/halsell.html NASA Biography]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/halsell_james.htm Spacefacts biography of James D. Halsell]