RICHARD H. TRULY (VICE ADMIRAL, USN, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born in Fayette, Mississippi, on November 12, 1937. Married. 

Three children. 

EDUCATION: Attended schools in Fayette and Meridian, Mississippi; received a 

bachelor of aeronautical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 

1959.

SPECIAL HONORS: Decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service 

Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legion of Merit, Navy Distinguished 

Flying Cross, and the Meritorious Service Award. His NASA awards include the 

NASA Distinguished Service Medal, two NASA Space Flight Medals, and two NASA 

Exceptional Service Medals. He is also the recipient of the Air Force Association’s 

David C. Shilling Award (1978), Society of Experimental Test Pilot’s Ivan C. 

Kincheloe Award (1978), the American Astronautical Society’s Flight Achievement 

Award (1977), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Haley Space Flight Award (1980), the Robert H. 

Goddard Memorial Trophy (1982), the Thomas D. White Space Trophy (1982), the Robert J. Collier Trophy (1982), the

Harmon International Trophy (1982), the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal (1984), the Boy Scouts of 

America Distinguished Eagle Scout Award , and the Medal of Honor of the National Society of the Daughters of the American 

Revolution..

EXPERIENCE: Truly was ordered to flight school and was designated a Naval Aviator on October 7, 1960. His initial tour 

of duty was in Fighter Squadron 33 where he flew F-8 Crusaders aboard USS Intrepid (CVA-11) and USS Enterprise (CVN65) and made more than 300 carrier landings. From 1963 to 1965, he was first a student and later an instructor at the U.S. Air 

Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In 1965, he was among the first military 

astronauts selected to the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in Los Angeles, California. He became an astronaut for 

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in August 1969. He was a member of the Astronaut support crew and 

capsule communicator for all three of the manned Skylab missions (1973) and the Apollo-Soyuz mission (1975). Truly was 

pilot for one of the two-man crews that flew the 747/Space Shuttle Enterprise approach and landing test flights during 1977. 

He was then assigned as a backup pilot for STS-1, the first orbital flight test of the Shuttle. His first flight into space (STS-2, 

November 12-14, 1981) was as pilot of the Space Shuttle Columbia, significant at the first manned spacecraft to be reflown in 

space. His second flight (STS-8, August 30 to September 5, 1983) was as commander of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which 

was the first night launch and landing in the Shuttle program. As a Naval Aviator and test pilot, Truly has over 7,000 hours in 

numerous military jet aircraft.

Truly left NASA in 1983 to become the first commander of the Naval Space Command, Dahlgren, Virginia. He served as 

NASA Administrator from February 1989-1992.

MARCH 1992

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