Robert Crippen Robert Laurel Crippen ( born September 11 , 1937 ) in Beaumont Texas is a retired United States Navy Captain and former astronaut for the United States Department of Defense and for NASA . He was the pilot of the First Space Shuttle flight and flew three additional missions as commander . Crippen is a recipient to the Congressional Space Medal of Honor . He married Pandora Lee Puckett of Miami , Florida . She was NASA ’ s first female lead Orbiter Project Engineer on the Space Shuttle Atlantis and Challenger at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida . He has three daughters from a previous marriage . Education and training . After graduating from New Caney High School in New Caney , Texas , Crippen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1960 . He was selected as a member of the Texas Alpha chapter of Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Gamma Tau . He then joined the U . S . Navy . Career . Crippen was commissioned through the United States Navy ' s Aviation Officer Candidate School ( AOCS ) Program . As a Navy pilot from June 1962 to November 1964 , he made multiple deployments aboard the aircraft carrier USS " Independence " , flying the A - 4 Skyhawk in Attack Squadron 72 ( VA - 72 ) . He later attended the U . S . Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base , California . Upon graduation he remained at Edwards as an instructor until his selection for the US Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory ( MOL ) spaceflight program in October 1966 . Following the cancellation of the MOL program , he became a NASA astronaut in September 1969 and was a member of the astronaut support crew for the Skylab 2 , Skylab 3 , and Skylab 4 missions and for the Apollo - Soyuz Test Project mission . He was the pilot of the first orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle program ( STS - 1 , April 12 – 14 , 1981 ) and was the commander of three additional Shuttle flights : STS - 7 , June 18 – 24 , 1983 ; STS - 41 - C , April 6 – 13 , 1984 ; and STS - 41 - G , October 6 – 13 , 1984 . In addition to participating in the first Shuttle flight , he also presided over the first five - person crew ( STS - 7 , which included Sally Ride , the first American woman in space ) , the first satellite repair operation ( STS - 41 - C , which repaired the Solar Maximum Mission satellite ) , and the first seven - person crew ( STS - 41 - G ) . He was named commander of the STS - 62 - A mission which would have launched from the new SLC - 6 facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base , California . That mission was cancelled after the Space Shuttle " Challenger " disaster and SLC - 6 was closed when the Air Force went back to launching satellites on the Titan III and Titan IV rockets . Crippen was stationed at Kennedy Space Center , Florida from July 1987 to December 1989 , serving as Deputy Director , Shuttle Operations for NASA Headquarters . He was responsible for final Shuttle preparation , mission execution and return of the orbiter to KSC following landings at Edwards Air Force Base . From January 1990 to January 1992 , he served as Director , Space Shuttle , at NASA Headquarters in Washington , D . C . As such , he was responsible for the overall Shuttle program requirements , performance , and total program control , including budget , schedule and program content . He subsequently served as the Director of the Kennedy Space Center from January 1992 to January 1995 . During his tenure , the center processed , safely launched , and recovered 22 Space Shuttle missions . He provided leadership for over 13 , 000 civil service and contractor personnel . This included oversight of multiple contracts supporting center operations for both manned and unmanned spaceflight . He also implemented cost savings of greater than 25 % by establishing and developing new quality management techniques while ensuring the highest safety standards in an extremely hazardous environment . After leaving NASA , Crippen served as a vice president with Lockheed Martin Information Systems in Orlando , Florida from April 1995 to November 1996 . Crippen subsequently became president of Thiokol Propulsion , where he worked from December 1996 to April 2001 . Thiokol produces the Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motors and other defense and commercial solid rocket motors . Awards and honors . Crippen ' s accomplishments have earned him many notable awards , including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1972 . In 1981 after the inaugural Space Shuttle flight , he received the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award , the American Astronautical Society ' s Flight Achievement Award , the National Geographic Society ' s Gardiner Greene Hubbard Medal , and the American Legion ' s Distinguished Service Medal . In 1982 he won the Federal Aviation Administration ' s Award for Distinguished Service , the Goddard Memorial Trophy and the Harmon Trophy . In 1984 he received the Navy Distinguished Flying Cross and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal . He also received NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1988 and three NASA Distinguished Service Medal s in 1985 , 1988 , and 1993 . In 1996 , Crippen became the tenth individual to receive the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement ' s National Space Trophy . He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1991 and the U . S . Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2001 . On April 6 , 2006 , he received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor , the highest award for spaceflight achievement . He is also a fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics , American Astronautical Society and Society of Experimental Test Pilots . He served as President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1999 – 2000 . He was selected to be a member of Naval Aviators Golden Eagles in 2009 . He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2012 .