page_title: List of U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni
section_title: Astronauts
hierarchical_section_title: List of U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni / Famous alumni / Astronauts
caption_attribution_description: English: Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly served as NASA Administrator from May 14, 1989 to March 31, 1992. Prior to becoming Administrator, Adm. Truly served as NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Flight. In this position, he led the painstaking rebuilding of the Space Shuttle program after the Challenger accident. Adm. Truly's career began in the Navy and in 1965 he became one of the first military astronauts selected to the Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory program in Los Angeles, California. He transferred to NASA as an astronaut in August 1969 then served as capsule communicator for all three Skylab missions in 1973 and the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. He was pilot for the 747/Space Shuttle Enterprise approach and landing test flights during 1977, and his first space flight was November 12-14, 1981, as pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-2). After leaving NASA, Adm. Truly became Vice President and Director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta.
context_page_description: The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School graduated the following notable alumni who made significant contributions to the aerospace field. The school's mission is to produce experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to lead and conduct test and evaluation of aerospace weapon systems. The school was established on September 9, 1944, as the Flight Test Training Unit at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. To take advantage of the uncongested skies and superb flying weather, the school was moved on February 4, 1951, to its present location at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. Edwards AFB is the home of the Air Force Flight Test Center and has been an integral part of flight testing for over fifty years.
  Between 1962 and 1972, the Test Pilot School expanded its role to include astronaut training for military test pilots. Thirty-seven TPS graduates of this era were selected for the U.S. space program, and twenty-six went on to earn astronaut's wings by flying in the X-15, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs.
context_section_description: Individual was killed in a work-related (aviation) accident.
caption: VADM. Richard H. Truly, USN, NASA administrator, STS commander and pilot
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