Vance D . Brand Vance DeVoe Brand ( born May 9 , 1931 ) is a former test pilot and NASA astronaut . He served as command module pilot during the first U . S . - Soviet joint space flight in 1975 , and as commander of three space shuttle missions . His flight experience includes 9 , 669 flying hours , which includes 8 , 089 hours in jets , 391 hours in helicopter s , 746 hours in spacecraft , and checkout in more than 30 types of military aircraft . Vance Brand Airport in Longmont , Colorado , is named in his honor . Biography . Early years . Brand was born in Longmont , Colorado , May 9 , 1931 , and is the son of Rudolph William and Donna Mae Brand . He was active in Troop 64 of the Boy Scouts of America in Longmont , where he achieved Life Scout . He was active in the International Order of DeMolay . He is married to the former Beverly Ann Whitnel , and has two daughters and four sons ; Susan Nancy , Stephanie Brand Lowery , Patrick Richard , Kevin Stephen , Erik Ryan , and Dane Vance . Graduated from Longmont High School , he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1953 , a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from there in 1960 , and a Master ' s degree in Business Administration from UCLA in 1964 . He was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity while at University of Colorado at Boulder . Military service . Brand was a commissioned officer and naval aviator with the United States Marine Corps from 1953 to 1957 . His military assignments included a 15 - month tour in Japan as a jet fighter pilot . Following his release from active duty , Brand continued service in Marine Forces Reserve and Air National Guard jet fighter squadrons until 1966 . Civilian test pilot . Employed as a civilian by the Lockheed Corporation from 1960 to 1966 , he worked initially as a flight test engineer on the United States Navy ' s P - 3 Orion aircraft . In 1963 , Brand graduated from the United States Naval Test Pilot School and was assigned to Palmdale , California as an experimental test pilot on Canadian and German F - 104 programs . Prior to selection to the astronaut program , Brand worked at the West German F - 104G Flight Test Center at Istres , France as an experimental test pilot and leader of a Lockheed flight test advisory group . NASA career . One of the 19 pilot astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966 , Brand initially was a crew member in the thermal vacuum chamber testing of the prototype Command Module ( alongside astronauts Joe Engle and Joseph Kerwin ) and support crewman on Apollos 8 and 13 . Later he was backup command module pilot for Apollo 15 , and was likely to be named to the prime crew of Apollo 18 before that mission was canceled . Brand was backup commander for Skylabs 3 and 4 . When Skylab 3 ' s CSM had problems with its Reaction Control System , Brand was put on standby to pilot a rescue mission , but was later stood down when it was decided that the problem did not require the rescue mission to be launched . As an astronaut , he held management positions relating to spacecraft development , acquisition , flight safety and mission operations . Brand flew on four space missions ; Apollo - Soyuz , STS - 5 , STS - 41 - B , and STS - 35 . He logged 746 hours in space and commanded three missions . Brand was the last member of his astronaut class to remain active with NASA , and was the only Apollo - era astronaut to fly the Space Shuttle in the post - Challenger era . Brand departed the Astronaut Office in 1992 to become Chief of Plans at the National Aerospace Plane ( NASP ) Joint Program Office at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base . In September 1994 , he moved to California to become Assistant Chief of Flight Operations at the Dryden Flight Research Center , then Acting Chief Engineer , Deputy Director for Aerospace Projects , and Acting Associate Center Director for Programs . He retired from NASA in January 2008 . Space flights . Apollo - Soyuz . Brand was launched on his first space flight on July 15 , 1975 , as Apollo command module pilot on the Apollo - Soyuz Test Project mission . This flight resulted in the historic meeting in space between American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts . Other crewmen on this nine - day Earth - orbital mission were Thomas Stafford , Apollo commander , Deke Slayton , Apollo docking module pilot ; cosmonaut Alexei Leonov , Soyuz commander ; and cosmonaut Valery Kubasov , Soyuz flight engineer . The Soyuz spacecraft was launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome , and the Apollo was launched 7½ hours later at the Kennedy Space Center . Two days later , the two spacecraft docked successfully . The linkup tested a unique , new docking system and demonstrated international cooperation in space . There were 44 hours of docked joint activities which included four crew transfers between the Apollo and the Soyuz . Six records for docked and group flight were set on the mission and are recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale . Apollo splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii , on July 25 , and was recovered by the , completing a 217 - hour mission . The mission almost ended in disaster when , during the final stages of the mission , the crew was exposed to near fatal amounts of nitrogen tetroxide gas . The reaction control system had been inadvertently left on during descent , and the poisonous fumes were sucked into the capsule as it drew in outside air . Brand briefly lost consciousness and all three crewmen required hospitalization in Hawaii for a number of weeks after landing . STS - 5 . Brand was commander of Space Shuttle " Columbia " for STS - 5 , the first fully operational flight of the Space Shuttle program , which launched on November 11 , 1982 . His crew comprised Colonel Robert Overmyer , pilot , and two mission specialists , Dr . Joseph P . Allen and Dr . William B . Lenoir . STS - 5 , the first mission with a four - man crew , demonstrated the Shuttle as operational by the successful first deployment of two commercial communications satellites from the Shuttle ' s payload bay . The mission marked the Shuttle ' s first use of an upper stage rocket for payloads , the Payload Assist Module ( PAM - D ) . The satellites were deployed for Satellite Business Systems Corporation of McLean , Virginia , and TELESAT of Ottawa , Canada . Two FAI records for mass to altitude were set on the mission . Numerous flight tests were performed to ascertain Shuttle performance . STS - 5 was the last flight to carry the Development Flight Instrumentation package to support extensive flight testing . The STS - 5 crew concluded the 5 - day orbital flight of Columbia with the landing approach through a cloud deck to Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base , California on November 16 , 1982 . Mission duration was 122 hours . STS - 41 - B . Brand commanded " Challenger " with a crew of five on the tenth flight of the Space Shuttle program , STS - 41 - B . The launch was on February 3 , 1984 . His crew included Commander Robert L . Gibson , pilot , and 3 mission specialists , Captain Bruce McCandless II , Dr . Ronald McNair , and Lt . Col . Robert L . Stewart . The flight accomplished the deployment of two Hughes HS - 376 communications satellites which failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper stage rocket failures . This mission marked the first flight checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and the Manipulator Foot Restraint with McCandless and Stewart performing two untethered extravehicular activities . Shuttle rendezvous sensors and computer programs were flight - tested for the first time . The 8 - day flight of Challenger ended with the first landing to the runway at the Kennedy Space Center on February 11 , 1984 . STS - 35 . Brand again commanded " Columbia " on the 38th flight of the shuttle , this time with a crew of seven , on STS - 35 . The spectacular night launch on December 2 , 1990 started a nine - day mission devoted to round - the - clock astronomical observations . Crewmen included the pilot , Col . Guy Gardner ; three mission specialists , John M . Lounge , Dr . Robert A . Parker and Dr . Jeffrey A . Hoffman ; and two payload specialists , Dr . Samuel T . Durrance and Dr . Ronald A . Parise . The 13 - ton payload consisted of the three ASTRO - 1 ultraviolet ( UV ) telescopes and the Broadband X - ray Telescope . More than 200 Orbiter maneuvers were required to point the telescopes . This Shuttle flight , one of the first dedicated to astronomy , provided a rich return of science data with emphasis on observations of very active celestial objects . A night landing was made on December 10 , to Runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base . Mission duration was 215 hours .