STUART ALLEN ROOSA (COLONEL, USAF, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (DECEASED)

PERSONAL DATA: Born August 16, 1933, in Durango, Colorado. Died 

December 12, 1994. He is survived by his wife Joan, three sons and one daughter. 

EDUCATION: Attended Justice Grade School and Claremore High School in 

Claremore, Oklahoma; studied at Oklahoma State University and the University of 

Arizona and was graduated with honors and a Bachelor of Science degree in 

Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Colorado; presented an Honorary 

Doctorate of Letters from the University of St. Thomas (Houston, Texas) in 1971; 

completed the Advanced Management Course at Harvard Business School in 1973.

ORGANIZATIONS: Society of Experimental Test Pilots, New York Safari Club, 

Board of Directors, People-to-People Sports Committee, Hunting Hall of Fame, 

Circumnavigators Club, Explorers Club, Confederate Air Force, Shikar-Safari-Club, 

Gulfport Yacht Club.

SPECIAL HONORS: NASA Distinguished Service Medal; JSC Superior Achievement Award (1970); Air Force 

Command Pilot Astronaut Wings; Air Force Distinguished Service Medal; the Arnold Air Society’s John F. Kennedy Award 

(1971); the City of New York Gold Medal in 1971; the American Astronautical Society’s Flight Achievement Award for 

1971; the Order of Tchad (1973); and the Order of Central African Empire (1973).

EXPERIENCE: Roosa retired as a Colonel from the Air Force in 1976. His active duty was from 1953 to 1976. Prior to 

joining NASA, he was an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, California--an assignment he held from 

September 1965 to May 1966, following graduation from the Aerospace Research Pilots School.

He was a maintenance flight test pilot at Olmstead Air Force Base, Pennsylvania, from July 1962 to August 1964, flying 

F-101 aircraft. He served as Chief of Service Engineering (AFLC) at Tachikawa Air base for two years following graduation

from the University of Colorado under the Air Force Institute of Technology Program. Prior to this tour of duty, he was 

assigned as a fighter pilot at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, where he flew the F-84F and F-100 aircraft.

He attended Gunnery School at Del Rio and Luke Air Force Bases and is a graduate of the Aviation Cadet Program at 

Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, where he received his flight training commission in the Air Force.

He logged 5,500 hours of flying time--5,000 hours in jet aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Colonel Roosa was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He was a member 

of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 9 flight.

He completed his first space flight as command module pilot on Apollo 14, January 31 - February 9, 1971. With him on 

man’s third lunar landing mission were Alan B. Shepard (spacecraft commander) and Edgar D. Mitchell (lunar module 

pilot).

Maneuvering their lunar module, “Antares,” to a landing in the hilly upland Fra Mauro region of the moon, Shepard and 

Mitchell subsequently deployed and activated various scientific equipment and experiments and proceeded to collect almost 

100 pounds of lunar samples for return to earth. Throughout this 33-hour period of lunar surface activities, Roosa remained 

in lunar orbit aboard the command module, “Kittyhawk,” to conduct a variety of assigned photographic and visual 

- more -

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058
observations. Apollo 14 achievements include: first use of the Mobile Equipment Transporter (MET); largest payload 

placed in lunar orbit; longest distance traversed on the lunar surface; largest payload returned from the lunar surface; longest 

lunar surface stay time (33 hours); longest lunar surface EVA (9 hours and 17 minutes); first use of shortened lunar orbit 

rendezvous techniques; first use of color TV with a new vidicon tube on lunar surface; the first extensive orbital science 

period conducted during CSM solo operations.

In completing his first space flight, Roosa logged a total of 216 hours and 42 minutes in space.

He served as backup command pilot for the Apollo 16 and 17 missions, and was assigned to the space shuttle program until 

his retirement in 1976.

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE: From February 5, 1976 to July 1, 1977, Colonel Rossa served as Corporate Vice President, 

International Operations, U.S. Industries, Inc., Oak Brook, Illinois, and President, USI Middle East Development Company, 

Ltd., Athens, Greece. Performed assessment at corporate level, establishing areas of marketing potential and schedule of 

priorities for U.S. Industries, Inc., throughout the Middle East region. Initiated product development activities of 

appropriate divisions of U.S. Industries to better insure product compatibility with requirements of Middle East Countries.

July 1977 to March 1981, Vice President Advanced Planning, Charles Kenneth Campbell Investments. Commercial real 

estate development.

March 1981 to present, president and owner Gulf Coast Coors, Inc., Gulfport, Mississippi.

Roosa died on December 12, 1994, due to complications of pancreatitis.

DECEMBER 1994