  donald herod peterson (born october 22, 1933) is a retired united states air force officer and a former usaf and nasa astronaut. ==biography== ===early life and education=== he was born in winona, mississippi, on october 22, 1933. peterson is married, and has three children and four grandchildren. peterson graduated from winona high school, winona, mississippi; received a bachelor of science degree from the united states military academy at west point, new york in 1955, and a master of science degree in nuclear engineering from the air force institute of technology, wright-patterson air force base, ohio in 1962. ===usaf career=== peterson graduated from west point in 1955. his assignments included four years as a flight instructor and military training officer with the air training command, three years as a nuclear systems analyst with the air force systems command, and one year as a fighter pilot with tactical air command, including three months of combat weapons training. he is a graduate of the aerospace research pilot school at edwards air force base, california, and was one of the third group of astronauts assigned to the usaf manned orbiting laboratory (mol) program. he has logged over 5,300 hours flying timeâincluding more than 5,000 hours in jet aircraft. ===nasa career=== peterson became a nasa astronaut in september 1969 after the mol program was cancelled. he served on the astronaut support crew for apollo 16. peterson retired from the united states air force with the rank of colonel after having completed more than 24 years of active service, but continued his assignment as a nasa astronaut in a civilian capacity. his areas of responsibility have included engineering support, man/machine interface, and safety assessment. peterson was a mission specialist on sts-6, which launched from kennedy space center, florida, on april 4, 1983. he was accompanied by paul j. weitz (spacecraft commander), col. [[karol j. b
1933_births Air_Force_Institute_of_Technology_alumni American_astronauts American_test_pilots Living_people NASA_civilian_astronauts People_from_Montgomery_County,_Mississippi U.S._Air_Force_Test_Pilot_School_alumni United_States_Air_Force_officers United_States_Military_Academy_alumni