Sonny Carter

Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter, Jr.
NASA Astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Deceased - killed while on NASA business
Born	August 15, 1947 Macon, Georgia
Died	Brunswick, Georgia
Other occupation	Medical Doctor
Time in space	5d 00h 06m
Selection	1984 NASA Group
Missions	STS-33
Mission insignia

Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter, Jr. (August 15, 1947–April 5, 1991) was an American physician, professional soccer player, naval officer, and NASA astronaut who flew on STS-33.

Early life

Sonny Carter was born in Macon, Georgia. He graduated from Lanier High School in Macon in 1965. He received a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta in 1969 and a doctor of medicine degree from there in 1973. After completing medical school in 1973, Carter completed internship in internal medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Athletic career

Carter played collegiate soccer and ran track while an undergraduate at Emory University. His senior season, he was captain and most valuable player of the soccer team. In addition to his intercollegiate athletic career, Carter was an intramural wrestling champion. Carter played professional soccer while he attended medical school. In 1970, he signed with the Atlanta Chiefs of the North American Soccer League for whom he played three seasons.^[1]

Military career

In 1974, he entered the Navy and completed flight surgeon school. After serving tours as a flight surgeon with the 1st and 3rd Marine Air Wings, he returned to flight training and was designated a Naval Aviator on April 28, 1978 at NAS Chase, Beeville, Texas. During the following years, his naval career allowed him to serve as a fighter pilot flying F-4 Phantoms with the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 333 (VMFA 333) and to complete a nine month Mediterranean cruise aboard USS Forrestal. In 1982 he attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, graduating in 1984. Carter logged 3,000 flying hours and 160 carrier landings.

Astronaut

Selected by NASA in May 1984, Dr. Carter became an astronaut in June 1985, qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. He was assigned as Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) Representative for the Mission Development Branch of the Astronaut Office when selected to the crew of STS-33. The STS-33 crew launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at night on November 22, 1989, aboard the Discovery. The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and other secondary payloads. After 79 orbits of the earth, this five-day mission concluded on November 27, 1989 with a hard surface landing on Runway 04 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Carter logged 120 hours in space.

At the time of his death, Carter was assigned as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-42, the first International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1).

Death

Carter died in the April 5, 1991 crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 in Brunswick, Georgia. He was aboard the commercial airplane traveling for NASA.^[2] Among the others who also died in the plane crash was former Senator John Tower of Texas.

Legacy

After his death, his name was given to the Sonny Carter Training Facility Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, NASA's underwater astronaut training facility, for which he had developed training techniques.

Sonny Carter Elementary School in Macon, Georgia, which opened in 1993, was named for Carter. The school motto is: "To Challenge the Edge of the Universe."

In 1989, the school inducted him in its Athletic Hall of Fame.^[3] The university holds The Sonny Carter Invitational each year in his honor.

A plaque also honors his memory in the library of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at Emory University, in which he was a Brother.

References

1. ^ Manley Carter career stats, North American Soccer League, NASLJerseys.com
2. ^ National Transportation Safety Board Brief
3. ^ Honoring the true student athlete, Emory Magazine, Emory University, Winter 1997.

External links

• NASA Biography
• Spacefacts biography of Sonny Carter
• "Astronauts and the BSA". Fact sheet. Boy Scouts of America. http://www.scouting.org/Media/FactSheets/02-558.aspx. Retrieved 2006-09-06. 
• "Distinguished Eagle Scouts". Scouting.org. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-04. 

United States Navy portal

Persondata
Name	Carter, Manley Lanier, Jr.
Alternative names	Sonny Carter
Short description	Physician, astronaut
Date of birth	1947
Place of birth	Macon, Georgia
Date of death	1991
Place of death	Brunswick, Georgia