**Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson** (lahir Oktober 30, 1946) adalah merupakan seorang pegawai tentera lautAmerika Syarikatdan juga seorang angkasawan NASA bersara.

Peribadi
--------

Lahir di Cooperstown, New York, tetapi mengakui kawasan Lakewood di timur Long Beach, California, adalah rumahnya. Beliau telah berkahwin dengan Dr. M. Rhea Seddon dari Murfreesboro, Tennessee, yang juga adalah merupakan seorang angkasawan. Beliau mempunyai empat anak, beliau juga meminati buatan pesawat sendiri, Formula One Air Racing, Unlimited Class Air Racing, berlari dan bermain luncur air semasa waktu lapang. Emaknya, Mrs. Paul A. Gibson, tinggal di Seal Beach, California. Bapanya pula telah meninggal dunia, merupakan seorang ahli Inspektor FAA , dan juga pernah membuat kapalterbang sendiri dengan bantuan keluarganya -- di dalam garaj rumah mereka di Long Beach. Keluarganya adalah termasuk abang-abangnya, Jon dan Don serta seorang adik namanya Kathy.

Pendidikan
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* 1964: Mendapat ijazah daripada Huntington High School, Huntington, New York
* 1966: Menerima associate degree dalam sains kejuruteraan daripada Suffolk County Community College
* 1969: Menerima sarjana muda sains dalam kejuruteraan aeronautik daripada California Polytechnic State University

Anugerah dan penghormatan
-------------------------

* Dianugerahkan the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) "Pingat Louis Bleriot "(1992)
* Dianugerahkan the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) "Freedom of Flight" Award (1989)
* Mewujudkan rekod dunia bagi "Altitude in Horizontal Flight," Airplane Class C1A pada tahun 1991, dan "Time to Climb to 9000 Meters" pada tahun 1994

Anugerah ketenteraan:

* the Defense Superior Service Medal
* the Distinguished Flying Cross
* 3 Air Medals
* the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat "V"
* a Navy Unit Commendation
* Meritorious Unit Commendation
* Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
* Humanitarian Service Medal
* Vietnam Campaign Medal

Kerjaya ketenteraan
-------------------

Gibson memasuki tentera laut pada tahun 1969. Beliau telah menerima latihan asas dan penting di Naval Air Stations Saufley Field and Pensacola, Florida, dan Meridian, Mississippi, serta melengkapkan latihan penerbangan mahir di Naval Air Station di Kingsville, Texas.

Semasa bertugas dengan Fighter Squadrons 111 dan 1, semasa tempoh April 1972 hingga September 1975, beliau telah mendapat tugasan tersebut di USS *Coral Sea* (CVA-43) dan USS *Enterprise* (CVN-65) -- menerbangkan misi kombat di Asia Tenggara. Beliau merupakan seorang graduan Naval Fighter Weapons School, "Topgun." Gibson kembali ke Amerika Syarikat dan satu tugasan sebagai seorang pengajar juruterbang F-14A dengan Fighter Squadron 124. Beliau telah menerima ijazah daripada U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, dalam bulan Jun 1977, dan kemudiannya telah melibatkan diri dalam ujian dan penilaian bagi pesawat F-14A aircraft semasa ditugaskan dengan Naval Air Test Center's Strike Aircraft Test Directorate.

Pengalaman penerbangannya termasuklah lebih dari 6,000 jam terhadap 50 jenis pesawat awam dan tentera. Beliau memegang airline transport pilot, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, and has held a private pilot rating semenjak 17 tahun. Gibson juga telah melengkapkan pendaratan 300 pengangkut.

Kerjaya NASA
------------

Beliau telah dipilih oleh NASA dalam bulan Januari 1978, Gibson telah menjadi seorang angkasawan dalam bulan Ogos 1979. Gibson telah menerbangkan lima misi : STS-41-B dalam tahun 1984, STS-61-C dalam tahun 1986, STS-27 dalam tahun 1988, STS-47 dalam tahun 1992, dan STS-71 dalam tahun 1995. Gibson telah berkhidmat sebagai Ketua di Pejabat Angkasawan (Disember 1992 hingga September 1994) dan sebagai Penolong Pengarah, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996).

Pada penerbangan angkasanya yang pertama, Gibson merupakan seorang juruterbang bagi anak kapal STS 41-B yang telah dilancarkan dari Pusat Angkasalepas Kennedy, Florida, pada 3 Februari, 1984. Penerbangan itu berjaya mengatur kedudukan duasatelit komunikasi Hughes 376 yang gagal sampai ke orbit segerak disebabkan oleh kegagalan roket peringkat bahagian atas. Pengesan Rendezvous dan program-program komputer telah diuji-terbang buat pertama kali. Misi STS 41-B menandakan misi daftar keluar bagi *Manned Maneuvering Unit* (MMU), dan *Manipulator Foot Restraint* (MFR), dengan Bruce McCandless II dan Bob Stewart menunjukkan persembahan hebat dua EVAs (*jalan angkasa*). Satelit Jerman, *German Shuttle Pallet Satellite* (SPAS), *Remote Manipulator System* (RMS), enam "Getaway Specials," dan eksperimen-eksperimen pemprosesan bahan telah dimasukkan di dalam misi berkenaan. Enam hari penerbangan orbit bagi Challenger berkesudahan dengan pendaratan pertama di landasan Kennedy Space Center pada Februari 11, 1984, dan Gibson telah mendaratkan 191 jam di angkasa.

Gibson was the spacecraft commander of the STS-61-C mission. The seven-man crew on board the Orbiter *Columbia* launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. During the six-day flight the crew deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission concluded with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986, and logged him an additional 146 hours in space.

Gibson subsequently participated in the investigation of the Space Shuttle *Challenger* accident, and also participated in the redesign and recertification of the solid rocket boosters.

As the spacecraft commander of STS-27, Gibson and his five-man crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988, aboard the Orbiter *Atlantis*. The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, and a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours.

On Gibson's fourth space flight, the 50th Space Shuttle mission, he served as spacecraft commander of STS-47, Spacelab-J, which launched on September 12, 1992 aboard the Orbiter *Endeavour*. The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut as a member of the seven-person crew. During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter *Endeavour*. The mission ended with a successful landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 126 orbits of the Earth on September 20, 1992.

On his last flight, (June 27 to July 7, 1995), Gibson commanded a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The *Atlantis* Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.

In five space flights, Gibson completed a total of 36.5 days in space.

Kerjaya Selepas NASA
--------------------

Gibson left NASA in November 1996 and became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. In 2006, as reported by NASA Watch, Gibson was forced to retire as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial airline pilots. Gibson has publicly spoken out against federal regulations which require airline pilots to retire at age 60.  In December 2006, he joined the Benson Space Company as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Test Pilot.

Hoot competed at the 2007 Reno Air Races.

Pautan luar
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* NASA biographical information
* Spacefacts biography of Robert L. Gibson
* Benson Space Company

Rujukan
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1. ↑  "salinan arkib". Diarkibkan daripada yang asal pada 2007-09-27. Dicapai pada 2007-12-25.

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| Didahului oleh**Daniel C. Brandenstein** | **Chief of the Astronaut Office**1992–1994 | Diikuti oleh:**Robert D. Cabana** |