Don Lind

Vocation

Lifestyle

Notable

Traits

Family

American astronaut and physics professor who served as a mission specialist on the Challenger during the first operational mission of Spacelab from 4/29 to 5/06/1985. Lind received his early education at Midvale Elementary School, and after graduating from Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah, he enrolled at the University of Utah where he received a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in physics in 1953. He served four years with the U.S. Navy, stationed both in San Diego and aboard the USS Hancock, receiving his wings in 1957. He continued his education at the University of California and earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in high-energy nuclear physics in 1964. His post-doctoral study was completed at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, in 1975-76. Lind initially worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley, California, but in 1964, he went to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland where he worked as a space physicist. NASA chose him for astronaut training in April 1966. He was the back-up science pilot for Skylab 3 and 4, a member of the Skylab rescue crew and one of the astronaut office’s operations missions development group. In 1974, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. As a member of the Spacelab-3 science mission, Lind was responsible for developing and conducting an experiment to make 3-dimensional video recordings of the earth’s aurora; however, after completing his mission debriefing, he decided to pursue a life-long goal, and on 11/24/1985, he resigned as an astronaut. In September of that year, he was appointed professor of physics at Utah State University. He is married to Kathleen Maughan and has seven children. He enjoys sports like swimming and skiing and is interested in painting, play-writing and amateur theatrical productions. Link to Wikipedia biography