Don L. Lind

Don Leslie Lind
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Retired
Born	May 18, 1930 (1930-05-18) (age 81) Midvale, Utah
Other occupation	Scientist
Rank	Commander, USN
Time in space	7d 00h 08m
Selection	1966 NASA Group
Missions	STS-51-B
Mission insignia

Don Leslie Lind (born May 18, 1930 in Midvale, Utah) is an American scientist and a former NASA astronaut.

Education

Lind attended Midvale Elementary School and graduated from Jordan High School. He received a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in physics from the University of Utah in 1953. At the United States Navy Officer Candidate School Lind jokingly requested flight training and was unable to change his assignment, but found that he enjoyed flying.^[1] As a Naval Aviator, Lind volunteered to take high-altitude photo emulsions of cosmic rays during flights for the University of California, Berkeley. This helped him enroll at Berkeley,^[2][3] where Lind researched pion-nucleon scattering in the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory and earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Physics in 1964. He performed his post-doctoral study at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, from 1975 to 1976.

Navy

Lind held the rank of Commander in the Naval Reserve. He received his Wings of Gold in 1957 and served four years on active duty with the Navy at San Diego and later aboard the carrier USS Hancock. During that time Lind logged more than 4,500 hours of flight time, 4,000 of which were in a jet aircraft.

NASA career

From 1964, Lind worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a space physicist.^[2] He was involved in experiments to determine the nature and properties of low-energy particles within the Earth's magnetosphere and interplanetary space.

Lind applied for NASA's third group of astronauts but did not have enough flight hours, and was too old for the fourth group.^[4] After the age restriction changed,^[4] he was among the fifth group,^[3] the "Original Nineteen", selected in April 1966.

Although pilots comprised the Original Nineteen (unlike the fourth and sixth groups, which included only scientists), Deke Slayton assigned Lind to science-related tasks due to his doctorate.^[4] For the Apollo program he helped to develop the tools used on the lunar surface,^[2] and was a possible crewman of one of the canceled missions. Lind served as backup pilot for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 (the second and third manned Skylab missions), was on standby for a rescue mission planned when malfunctions developed on Skylab 3, and was a possible crewman of Skylab B.^[4] He was also a member of the Astronaut Office's Operations Missions development group, responsible for developing payloads for the early Space Shuttle Orbital Flight Test (OFT) missions, and the Canadarm.

Lind finally flew as a Mission Specialist on STS-51-B (April 29 to May 6, 1985), logging over 168 hours in space. He waited longer than any other American for his first spaceflight, 19 years.^[3][4] 16 members of the Original Nineteen, as well as 14 in later astronaut groups, flew in space before Lind.

Lind left NASA in 1986 and for nine years served as a professor of physics and astronomy at Utah State University.^[3]

Spaceflight experience

STS-51-B, the Spacelab-3 science mission, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 29, 1985. This was the first operational Spacelab mission. The seven men crew investigated crystal growth, drop dynamics leading to containerless material processing, atmospheric trace gas spectroscopy, solar and planetary atmospheric simulation, cosmic rays, laboratory animals and human medical monitoring.

Lind developed and conducted an experiment to make unique three-dimensional video recordings of the Earth's aurora. After completing 110 orbits of the earth, the Orbiter Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on May 6, 1985.

Awards and honors

Lind is member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for Advancement of Science, Phi Kappa Phi, and an Eagle Scout. He was also awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1974.

Personal life

Lind married Kathleen Maughan^[3] of Logan, Utah with whom he had seven children. His interests include amateur theatricals, play writing, and painting, and he is also an avid swimmer and skier.

Lind has served as a member of the lay ecclesiastical hierarchy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a missionary in the Northeastern United States before graduating from college,^[3][4] and after STS-51-B spoke in General Conference^[5] about his experience. While in Cache Valley as a professor at USU, he also served as a bishop. He has also served in subsequent assignments, including a term as a counselor to the president of the Portland Oregon Temple while his wife served as an assistant to the matron, and living in England for a year in 1998.

References

1. ^ Leavitt, Melvin (1985-04). "Mission Specialist One". New Era (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints): pp. 28. http://lds.org/new-era/1985/04/mission-specialist-one?lang=eng. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Honor Roll" U-News & Views, University of Utah Alumni Association, August 2009.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Moulton, Kristen. "Utah astronaut recalls his role in moon walk" Salt Lake Tribune, 20 July 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Don L. Lind oral history transcript, NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, 27 May 2005.
5. ^ Lind, Don (1985-10). "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God". October 1985 General Conference. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. http://lds.org/general-conference/1985/10/the-heavens-declare-the-glory-of-god?lang=eng. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 

• "Astronauts and the BSA". Fact sheet. Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-558.aspx. Retrieved 2006-09-06. 

External links

Biography portal

Sources:

• http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lind-dl.html
• http://www.physics.usu.edu/fachtmnj/dll.htm
• http://www.astronautix.com/astros/lind.htm
• Don Lind's speech to Utah School Children
• Spacefacts biography of Don L. Lind

Persondata
Name	Lind, Don Leslie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 18, 1930
Place of birth	Midvale, Utah
Date of death
Place of death