Carl J. Meade - NASA Experience

NASA Experience

Selected by NASA in June 1985, Meade became an astronaut in July 1986. He has held a variety of technical assignments including verification testing of flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), crew escape flight tests, Orbiter ground egress tests and launch support duties, both at the Kennedy Space Center and at the Vandenberg Launch Site. Prior to STS-38 and after STS-50, Meade was the Astronaut Office representative to the Solid Rocket Booster Program and the Space Shuttle Main Engine Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center. He also served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in Mission Control and the lead astronaut for Rendezvous and Docking Operations during the two years following STS-50.

A veteran of three space flights, Meade has logged over 712 hours in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-38 in 1990, STS-50 in 1992, and STS-64 in 1994.

STS-38 launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 15, 1990. Meade conducted Department of Defense operations during this five-day flight which concluded after 80 orbits of the Earth in 117 hours, 54 minutes, 28 seconds. In the first Shuttle recovery in Florida since 1985, Space Shuttle Atlantis and her five-man crew landed back at the Kennedy Space Center on November 20, 1990.

STS-50, carrying the first United States Microgravity Laboratory (USML), launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 25, 1992. USML is a series of Spacelab flights dedicated to basic scientific research in the fields of fluid physics, combustion science, solid state physics, and biotechnology. This flight was also the first to utilize the Extended Duration Orbiter capabilities of the newly modified Orbiter Columbia. Mission duration was 331 hours, 30 minutes, 4 seconds. After 221 orbits of the Earth, the crew of Columbia landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 9, 1992, thus ending the longest flight in the history of the Space Shuttle Program.

Most recently, Meade flew on STS-64 (September 9–20, 1994) aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission highlight occurred when Meade performed the first untethered spacewalk in 10 years. The objective was to flight test a self-rescue jetpack. Meade logged 6.9 hours outside Discovery and 3.6 hours piloting the jetpack. Other activities included the first use of lasers for environmental research, deployment and retrieval of a solar science satellite, and the performance of plume characterization studies of the reaction control thruster exhaust. Mission duration was 10 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes.

Meade has served as the Deputy Division Chief of the Crew and Thermal Systems Division and as the Chief of the Flight Support Branch of the Astronaut Office. In March 1996, Meade left NASA and the military to join the Lockheed Skunk Works as the Deputy Project Manager for the X-33 vehicle.