Sonny Carter
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| Missing image Sonny_Carter.jpg image:Sonny Carter.jpg | |
| Astronaut Profile | |
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| Selection Date: | May, 1984 |
| Position: | Mission Specialist |
| Retirement Date: | April 5, 1993 |
| Time in Space: | 5 days |
| Missions | |
| STS-33 | |
Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter, Jr. (born August 15, 1947 in Macon, Georgia– April 5, 1991) was an astronaut who flew on STS-33. He was also selected to fly on STS-42 at the time of his death in the crash of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 in Brunswick, Georgia[1] (http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X16773&key=1) while on a commercial airplane travel for NASA. After his death, his name was given to the Sonny Carter Training Facility - Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/dx/dx12/), NASA's underwater astronaut training facility, which he had developed training techniques for.
Sonny Carter graduated from Lanier High School in Macon, Georgia in 1965, then went on to receive a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Emory University in 1969 and a doctor of medicene degree from Emory in 1973. In addition to his careers in both the Navy and with NASA, Carter was a professional soccer player from 1970 to 1973 with the Atlanta Chiefs of the NASL.
After completing medical school in 1973, Carter completed internship in internal medicene at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1974 he entered the Navy and completed flight surgeon school. After serving tours as a flight surgeon with the 1st and 3rd Marine Air Wings, he returned to flight training and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1978. Durign the following years, his naval career allowed him to serve as a fightor pilot flying F-4 phantoms with the Marine Fighter Attach Squadron 333 and to complete a 9-month Mediterranean cruise aboard USS Forrestal. In 1982 he attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, graduating in 1984. During his life, he logged 3,000 flying hours and 160 carrier landings.
Selected by NASA in May, 1984, Carter became an astronaut in June, 1985, qualified for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. Carter was assigned as Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Representative for the Mission Development Branch of the Astronaut Office when selected to the crew of STS-33. The STS-33 crew launched, at night, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 22, 1989, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission carried Department of Defense payloads and other secondary payloads. After 79 orbits of the earth, this five-day mission concluded on November 27, 1989 with a hard surface landing on Runway 04 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. With the completion of his first mission, Carter logged 120 hours in space.
At the time of his death, Captain Carter was assigned as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-42, the first International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1).
Sonny Carter Elementary School, in Macon, Georgia, opened in 1993, was named for Manley Carter. The school motto is: "To Challenge the Edge of the Universe."
External links
- NASA Biography (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/carter.html)