Alum Story Musgrave enjoys special ceremony

1960 grad one of four inducted into Astronaut Hall of Fame

F. Story Musgrave, a 1960 graduate of Marietta College, was one of four Space Shuttle astronauts inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame June 21 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Photo by Karl Ronstrom Marietta College's Story Musgrave ’60 was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on June 21, 2003.

Daniel Brandenstein, Robert “Hoot” Gibson and Sally Ride — the first woman in space — joined Musgrave during the June 21 ceremony, which was interrupted by lightning and thunderstorms. Brandenstein, Gibson, Musgrave and Ride join and elite group of 48 other astronauts who have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame since 1990, with the Mercury Seven astronauts the first to be honored. Other honorees have come from the ranks of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz projects. The first shuttle fliers, inducted in November 2001, were Bob Crippen, Joe Engle, Rick Hauck and Dick Truly.

According to published reports, Musgrave thanked the workers at Kennedy Space Center. "You took care of me, for which I will be forever thankful," said Musgrave, a Marine Corps veteran.

"The entire college community congratulates Story Musgrave on this well deserved honor," said Dr. Jean A. Scott, Marietta College's president.

Musgrave is remembered for taking the first shuttle space walk, conducting medical and scientific experiments, operating secret devices for the military, deploying and retrieving satellites and helping repair the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.

Musgrave was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medals in 1974 and 1986, NASA Space Flight Medals in 1983, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996 and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1992.

Musgrave entered the U.S. Marine Corps in 1953, served as an aviation electrician and instrument technician, and as an aircraft crew chief while completing duty assignments in Korea, Japan, Hawaii and aboard the carrier USS WASP in the Far East. He has flown 17,700 hours in 160 different civilian and military aircraft.

Dr. Musgrave was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He completed astronaut academic training and then worked on the design and development of the Skylab Program.

Musgrave participated in the design and development of all Space Shuttle extravehicular activity equipment including spacesuits, life support systems, airlocks and manned maneuvering units. He served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) for STS-31, STS-35, STS-36, STS-38 and STS-41, and lead CAPCOM for a number of subsequent flights. He was a mission specialist on STS-6 in 1983, STS-5F/Spacelab-2 in 1985, STS-33 in 1989 and STS-44 in 1991, was the payload commander on STS-61 in 1993, and a mission specialist on STS-80 in 1996.

A veteran of six space flights, Dr. Musgrave has spent a total of 1,281 hours 59 minutes, 22 seconds in space.

He retired from NASA in 1997.

Musgrave has six degrees, including a chemistry degree from Marietta College in 1960. He was also awarded an honorary degree in 1983 from MC. He earned his doctorate in medicine from Columbia University in 1964 and a master’s degree in literature from the University of Houston in 1987.