June 1994
Steve Smith, MBA ’87, the business school’s only astronaut, will be aboard the space shuttle Endeavour scheduled for launch on August 18, 1994.
Smith is one of three mission specialists assigned to the STS-68 Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2) mission, along with the pilot and mission commander. SRL-2 will take radar images of the earth’s surface for earth system sciences studies including geology, geography, hydrology, oceanography, agronomy, and botany.
“My responsibilities will include several of the shuttle systems, several medical experiments, and several payload/experiment systems. If we have to do a space walk, Jeff Wishoff, one of the other mission specialists, and I will do it,” said Smith.
Becoming an astronaut is the realization of a lifelong dream for Smith. His interest is rooted in the ’60s and ’70s, when he used to watch space programs on TV. He applied to the astronaut program five times — every two years — before being accepted in 1992. He is the first member of the astronaut class of ’92 to receive a flight assignment.
— CarolAnn Shindelar, MBA ’87