Story Musgrave is a man who went to space.
He flew on many space ships. He also helped fix a big telescope in space. He even walked outside in space! He was a doctor too. Do you want to go to space?
Story Musgrave is a man who went to space.
He flew on six space trips. He is the only person to fly on all five space shuttles.
He was also a doctor. He studied many things at school. He even earned six degrees. This means he learned a lot.
Story helped fix a big telescope in space. He did this by walking outside the ship. He was the first doctor to do this.
He also loved to fly planes. He flew many different kinds of aircraft. He even jumped from planes with a parachute.
Story is a very busy man. He has many hobbies like chess and gardening. He is a true explorer.
Story Musgrave is an American doctor and a retired NASA astronaut.
He is a very smart explorer. He has six college degrees. This makes him one of the most educated astronauts ever. He is also the only astronaut to fly on all five space shuttles.
Musgrave spent a lot of time in space. He flew on six different missions. He spent over 1,281 hours in orbit. On one trip, he saw plasma streams. These are glowing paths of gas near the ship. He is the only person to see them that way.
He was a pioneer for spacewalks. A spacewalk is called an EVA. This stands for extra-vehicular activity. On his first flight, he did the first spacewalk from a shuttle. Later, he helped fix the Hubble Space Telescope. He was the first doctor to do a spacewalk on two missions.
Before joining NASA, Musgrave was in the Marine Corps. He worked as an electrician for planes. He also loves to fly. He has flown over 17,700 hours in many types of aircraft. He even made over 800 free falls with a parachute.
Franklin Story Musgrave is an American doctor and a retired NASA astronaut.
He is a very well-educated explorer with six different academic degrees. This makes him one of the most formally educated astronauts in history. He also holds a unique record in space travel. Musgrave is the only astronaut to have flown on all five Space Shuttles. His life has been filled with many different jobs and amazing adventures. He even worked as a consultant for Disney's Imagineering group.
Musgrave's career involved many steps and many different types of learning. He first served in the United States Marine Corps starting in 1953. There, he worked as an electrician and a technician for aircraft. After his service, he earned a degree in mathematics from Syracuse University. He later earned many more degrees in business, chemistry, and medicine. He even became a doctor at Columbia University in 1964. This deep knowledge helped him work as a scientist-astronaut at NASA.
His time at NASA included many important firsts for space travel. In 1983, he flew on the very first mission for the Space Shuttle Challenger. During that flight, he performed the first spacewalk from a shuttle. This type of activity is called an extra-vehicular activity, or EVA. He later helped fix the Hubble Space Telescope during the STS-61 mission. On that trip, he became the first doctor-astronaut to do spacewalks on two different missions.
He spent a total of 1,281 hours and 59 minutes in space.
Musgrave has completed six different space missions throughout his career.
He flew on STS-6, STS-51-F, STS-33, STS-44, STS-61, and STS-80. On his last mission, STS-80, he traveled over 7 million miles. During that flight, he used a camera to record plasma streams. These are glowing paths of gas near the ship's hull. He is still the only astronaut to see them first-hand.
He also held the record for the oldest person in orbit for a time.
Many things in Musgrave's life connect to the world of science and flight. He has flown over 17,700 hours in many different kinds of aircraft. He is also a very skilled parachutist with over 800 free falls. Some of these falls were even used to study how humans move through the air. Even though he is retired, he remains active in many groups. He is a member of the National Geographic Society and the International Space Hall of Fame.
His many interests include everything from chess to scuba diving.
Franklin Story Musgrave is a retired NASA astronaut and an American physician. He holds a unique place in the history of space exploration. Musgrave is the only astronaut to have flown aboard all five of the Space Shuttle vehicles. He was also one of only two astronauts to fly six different spaceflights. His academic background is exceptionally deep for an explorer. He holds six different academic degrees, making him one of the most formally educated astronauts ever.
Musgrave's journey to the stars began with a diverse military and academic career. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1953. During his service, he worked as an aviation electrician and an aircraft crew chief. He completed his high school equivalency through a GED while serving in the Marines. Following his discharge, he began a long series of studies. He earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and statistics from Syracuse University in 1958. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Marietta College. In 1964, he earned his Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University.
His medical expertise became vital to NASA's mission goals. After medical school, he served as a surgical intern and a postdoctoral fellow. He researched cardiovascular and exercise physiology, which is the study of how the heart and body move. This knowledge helped him when he was selected as a scientist-astronaut in August 1967. Musgrave worked on the design of the Skylab Program and helped develop extra-vehicular activity (EVA) equipment. EVA refers to activities performed by astronauts outside of a spacecraft, such as spacewalks. He helped design spacesuits, airlocks, and life support systems to keep humans safe in the vacuum of space.
Musgrave completed six distinct space missions, each with different scientific goals. His first flight was STS-6 in 1983 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. During this mission, he performed the first spacewalk ever conducted from a Space Shuttle. He later flew on STS-51-F, which was the first pallet-only Spacelab mission. He also flew on STS-33, a classified mission for the United States Department of Defense. On STS-44, he participated in medical tests designed to support longer human stays in space. Each mission required him to use his specialized training in engineering and medicine.
One of his most famous missions was STS-61 in 1993. This was the first servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew had to rendezvous with and capture the telescope using the shuttle. Musgrave performed three spacewalks during this 11-day flight to help restore the telescope's capabilities. This made him the first astronaut-physician to perform spacewalks on two different missions.
His final mission was STS-80 in 1996. During this flight, the crew deployed the Wake Shield Facility and the ORFEUS satellites. The Wake Shield Facility created a super vacuum to help grow thin film wafers for electronics. On this mission, Musgrave recorded plasma streams over the orbiter's hull using a handheld camera. He remains the only astronaut to have seen these plasma streams first-hand.
Musgrave's experience in flight extends far beyond the Space Shuttle. He has flown 17,700 hours in 160 different types of civilian and military aircraft. This includes 7,500 hours specifically in jet aircraft. He is also an expert parachutist. He has completed more than 800 free falls. Over 100 of these were experimental descents used to study human aerodynamics. Aerodynamics is the study of how air moves around objects. These high-altitude jumps provided valuable data for understanding how humans behave in different air environments.
Throughout his life, Musgrave has connected many different fields of study. His work bridges the gap between medicine, engineering, and space exploration. He has written or co-authored twenty-five scientific papers. These papers cover topics like aerospace medicine, temperature regulation, and clinical surgery. Even after retiring from NASA in 1997, he remains a consultant for groups like Disney's Imagineering. His career shows how specialized knowledge in one area, like medicine, can become essential for the success of an entirely different field, like space travel.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (7)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.