29 Facts About Don Lind

Don Leslie Lind was an American scientist, naval officer, aviator, and NASA astronaut.

Don Lind graduated from the University of Utah with an undergraduate degree in physics in 1953.

Don Lind was then assigned as backup pilot for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4 and would have flown on Skylab Rescue.

Don Lind was the payload commander on his only flight, STS-51-B, launched April 29,1985.

Don Lind designed an experiment to capture the Earth's aurora.

Don Lind was born May 18,1930, and raised in Midvale, Utah, with his two sisters, Charlene and Kathleen.

Don Lind attended Midvale Elementary School and graduated from Jordan High School in 1948.

Don Lind was an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America, its highest rank.

Don Lind received a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in physics from the University of Utah in 1953.

Don Lind received his Wings of Gold in 1955 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and served four years on active duty with the Navy at San Diego and aboard the carrier USS Hancock.

Don Lind logged more than 4,500 hours of flight time during his naval and NASA careers, 4,000 of which were in jet aircraft.

Don Lind continued to serve in the United States Naval Reserve after completing his service obligation, attaining his terminal rank of commander in 1969.

From 1964 to 1966, Don Lind worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as a space physicist.

Don Lind was involved in experiments to determine the nature and properties of low-energy particles within the Earth's magnetosphere and interplanetary space.

Don Lind applied for NASA's third group of astronauts but did not have enough flight hours, and was too old for the fourth group by 74 days, despite arguing that he would not have to learn to fly.

Don Lind was selected as a pilot with other "Original Nineteen" astronauts in contrast to the fourth and sixth astronaut groups, which consisted of medical doctors and Ph.

Don Lind served as a capsule communicator on the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions.

Amid the gradual cancellation of the later Apollo missions and the devolution of the AAP into the Skylab program, Don Lind was formally reassigned to the latter effort in August 1969; according to Slayton, who noted Don Lind's disappointment, "with the cancellation of [Apollo] 20, I could see I just wasn't going to have a flight for him".

Additionally, Skylab 4 Science Pilot Edward Gibson had taken on a research program in solar physics and worked on the Apollo Telescope Mount while Don Lind was still on track to be assigned to a lunar mission.

Don Lind was reassigned to the Science and Applications Directorate in 1974, formally codifying his status as a scientist-astronaut.

Don Lind finally flew as the lead mission specialist and de facto payload commander on STS-51-B, logging over 168 hours in space.

Don Lind retired from NASA on the twentieth anniversary of his selection in 1986.

Don Lind was a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Phi Kappa Phi.

Don Lind was active in the Boy Scouts of America and earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Don Lind was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1974, and the NASA Space Flight Medal following his Challenger flight.

Don Lind married Kathleen Maughan of Logan, Utah, with whom he had seven children.

Don Lind served as a member of the lay ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Don Lind served as a missionary in the Northeastern United States before graduating from college, and after STS-51-B spoke in General Conference about his experience.

Don Lind died on August 30,2022, in Logan, Utah, with many of his children and grandchildren at his bedside.