Philip K. Chapman
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Astronaut_Philip_K_Chapman.jpg
Dr. Philip Kenyon Chapman was the first Australian astronaut, serving for about five years in NASA Astronaut Group 6 (1967).
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Education
Born on 5 March 1935 in Melbourne, Australia, his family moved to Sydney and he was educated at Parramatta, received a bachelor of science degree in Physics and Mathematics from Sydney University in 1956, and a master of science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1964 and a Doctorate of Science in Instrumentation in 1967 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Work
Chapman served with the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve from 1953 to 1955.
From 1956 to 1957, he worked for Philips Electronics Industries Proprietary Limited in Sydney, Australia.
Chapman served for two years as an expeditioner in Antarctica with the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE), for the International Geophysical Year (IGY) as an auroral/radio physicist.
From 1960 to 1961, he was an electro-optics staff engineer in flight simulators for Canadian Aviation Electronics Limited in Dorval, Quebec. His next assignment was a staff physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked in electro-optics, inertial systems, and gravitational theory until the summer of 1967.
After taking out US citizenship, Chapman was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He trained as an astronaut, and served as the Apollo 14 Mission Scientist before resigning near the close of the Apollo Program in July 1972, reportedly when it became apparent that he would not fly into space due to financial cutbacks at NASA.
He was then employed by the Arthur D. Little Company, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts and was noted as author of an paper "Laser Propulsion from the Moon" delivered at the annual conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics held over 14-17 May 1979.
In 2003, he has been associated with the "Center for Enterprise in Space" in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Honorary Positions
- Advisor to the Space Frontier Foundation (http://www.space-frontier.org/)
Publications / Articles
- "Space Beyond The Cold War" (http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-03zn3.html) SpaceDaily.com 30 May 2003
Australians in Space
- Philip K. Chapman
- Paul D. Scully-Power
- Andy Thomas
See also
- List of astronauts by name
- List of astronauts by selection
- Timeline of astronauts by nationality
- List of human spaceflights: 1961-1986, 1987-1999, 2000-present.