The New Astronaut Groups: The "XS-11" (1967)

A new class of scientist-astronauts joins NASA in a time of turmoil

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Standing (l to r): Joseph P. Allen, Karl G. Henize, Anthony W. England, Donald L. Holmquest, F. Story Musgrave, William B. Lenoir, Brian T. O'Leary.
Sitting (l to r): Philip K. Chapman, Robert A. Parker, William E. Thornton, John A. Llewellyn. NASA Photo.

The second group of NASA scientist-astronauts was hired in 1967, in the wake of the Apollo 1 fire. They had four groups of pilot astronauts and one group of scientist astronauts ahead of them in the crew rotation. Consequently, the Apollo moon missions were pretty much out of reach, although they could work on Apollo mission planning and support teams. So the group sort of laughingly referred to themselves as the XS-11 (as in, "Excess 11"). In 1967, they really didn't seem to have many prospects for a mission in the near future. They were, basically, waiting for Skylab to fly, and later, the Shuttle.

 

Joe Allen was a nuclear physicist from Crawfordsville, IN; he is shown here on his first mission, STS-5. NASA Photo.

 

Karl Henize was an astronomer from Cincinnati, OH. NASA Photo.

 

Anthony England was a geologist born in Indianapolis, but calling West Fargo, ND home. NASA Photo.

 

Donald Holmquest, M.D., specializing in nuclear medicine, was from Dallas. NASA Photo.

 

Story Musgrave, M.D., was born in Boston but called Lexington, KY home. A man of many interests, his hobbies included chess, flying, gardening, literary criticism, computers, parachuting, photography, reading, running, scuba diving, and soaring. His academic achievements included, at the time, a BS in mathematics and statistics from Syracuse, a MBA in operations analysis and computer programming from the University of California at Los Angeles, a BA in chemistry from Marietta College, a Doctorate in medicine from Columbia, and an MS in physiology and biophysics from the University of Kentucky. (He would go on after this flight to get a Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Houston in 1987.) A former Marine, he had been an aircraft electrician and crew chief in the service, including carrier duty on the U.S.S. Wasp. He served his surgical internship at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington in the early-1960s, and went on to teach there. His studies in aerospace medicine and physiology, as well as other areas pertinent to spaceflight, would come in handy when he applied for astronaut selection. He is shown here after his last mission, STS-80 in November of 1996. NASA Photo.

 

Bill Lenoir, an electrical engineer, was from Miami. He had been an electromagnetic theory instructor & research scientist at MIT. He is shown here in a portrait taken before his first mission, STS-5. NASA Photo.

 

Brian O'Leary was an astrophysicist from Boston; he is shown here in later years. PHOTO CREDIT PENDING.

 

Philip K. Chapman, physicist, born and raised in Australia. NASA Photo.

 

Bob Parker was an astronomer born in New York but raised in Shrewsburry, Mass. NASA Photo.

 

Bill Thornton was an M.D. with a background in physics, from Faison, NC. NASA Photo.

 

John Llewellyn was a chemist from Cardiff, Wales, UK. NASA Photo.

Most of these guys had the letters "Ph.D" after their names as well. And while none of them would fly until Joe Allen and Bill Lenoir went up on Vance Brand's STS-5 crew in November of 1982, all would have important roles in planning scientific and practical aspects of Apollo and Skylab missions. The first member of this group to be assigned to an actual flight crew would be Story Musgrave, who was named as the Backup science pilot for Skylab 2. Musgrave would go on to fly as a Mission Specialist on 6 Shuttle missions, and would participate in a number of spacewalks, including the first EVA of the Shuttle program on STS-6, and the famous Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, STS-61.