Philip K. Chapman

Philip Kenyon Chapman (5 March 1935 – 5 April 2021) was an Australian-American astronaut. He was the first Australian-born astronaut.

Chapman served with the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve from 1953 to 1955. He learnt to fly (in a Tiger Moth) during Australian national service. In 1956, he earned a B.S. in physics and mathematics from the University of Sydney.

From 1956 to 1957, he worked for Philips Electronics Industries Proprietary Limited in Sydney, New South Wales. He then spent 15 months at Antarctica's Mawson Station with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE). He worked as a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States from 1961 to 1967. He served for about five years in NASA Astronaut Group 6 (1967).

Chapman was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He moved to Sydney as a child. He was married and had two children.

Chapman died on 5 April 2021 in Arizona, at the age of 86.

References

Other websites

Philip K. Chapman NASA biography

Category:1935 births
Category:2021 deaths
Category:American astronauts
Category:American physicists
Category:Australian astronauts
Category:Australian physicists
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Category:NASA
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:People from Melbourne
Category:People from Sydney
Category:University of Sydney alumni