Thursday, September 11, 2014

Astronaut, Ham, Steven Nagel, SK

Astronaut Steven Nagel, N5RAW (SK)
(Courtesy of NASA)
Astronaut Steven Nagel, N5RAW, who commanded the first all-ham space shuttle mission in 1991, became a Silent Key in August at age 67. He was married to fellow astronaut and ham Linda Godwin, N5RAX. Nagel was a member of the Astronaut Corps from 1979 to 1995, but continued working for NASA until he retired in 2011 and took a teaching position at the University of Missouri at Columbia. According to The ARRL Letter, he flew on four shuttle missions and logged more than 700 hours in space. One of his last public appearances was at an ARRL division convention in Missouri last year.