DON (NOT "DONALD") LESLIE LIND (PH.D.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born in Midvale, Utah, on May 18, 1930. Married to the former 

Kathleen Maughan of Logan, Utah. They have seven grown children. Recreational 

interests include amateur theatricals, play writing, and painting; and he is a swimmer and 

skier.

EDUCATION: Attended Midvale Elementary School and is a graduate of Jordan High 

School, Sandy, Utah; received a bachelor of science degree with high honors in Physics 

from the University of Utah in 1953 and a doctor of Philosophy degree in High Energy 

Nuclear Physics in 1964 from the University of California, Berkeley; performed postdoctoral study at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, in 1975-1976.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the American Geophysical Union, American 

Association for Advancement of Science, and Phi Kappa Phi.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1974).

EXPERIENCE: Before his selection as an astronaut, he worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a space physicist. 

He had been with Goddard since 1964 and was involved in experiments to determine the nature and properties of low-energy 

particles within the Earth’s magnetosphere and interplanetary space. Previous to this, he worked at the Lawrence Radiation 

Laboratory, Berkeley, California, doing research in pion-nucleon scattering, a type of basic high energy particle interaction. 

Lind holds the rank of Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He served four years on active duty with the Navy at San Diego 

and later aboard the carrier USS HANCOCK. He received his wings in 1957.

He has logged more than 4,500 hours flying time -- 4,000 hours in jet aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Dr. Lind was selected as an astronaut in April 1966. 

He served as backup science-pilot for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 (the second and third manned Skylab missions) and as a member of 

the rescue crew for the Skylab missions.

Dr. Lind was 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. 

Dr. Lind was a mission specialist on STS-51B (April 29 to May 6, 1985) and has logged over 168 hours in space. 

Dr. Lind left NASA in 1986.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-51B, the Spacelab-3 science mission, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 

on April 29, 1985. This was the first operational Spacelab mission. The seven man crew conducted investigations in 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. Dr. Lind developed and conducted an 

experiment to make unique 3-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. 

JANUARY 1987

This is the only version available from NASA. Updates must be sought direct from the above named individual.

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058