William Pogue

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Good article Template:Infobox astronaut William Reid "Bill" Pogue (January 23, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American astronaut and pilot who served in the United States Air Force (USAF) as a fighter pilot and test pilot, and reached the rank of colonel. He was also a teacher, public speaker and author.

Born and educated in Oklahoma, Pogue graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and enlisted in the USAF in 1951 and served for 24 years. He flew combat during the Korean War and with the USAF Thunderbirds, then served as a flight instructor. Following graduation from Oklahoma State University with a Master of Science degree in 1960, he served as mathematics professor at the United States Air Force Academy, and after training at the Empire Test Pilots' School, he was a test pilot whose service included a two-years exchange with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

During his service as a flight instructor, Pogue was accepted as a trainee astronaut for NASA in 1966. His NASA career included one orbital mission as pilot of Skylab 4, whose crew conducted dozens of in-orbit research experiments and set a duration record of 84 days—the longest crewed flight—that was unbroken in NASA for over 20 years. The mission also had a dispute with ground control over schedule management that news media named The Skylab Mutiny. Pogue retired from the USAF and NASA a few months after he returned from Skylab, after which he taught and wrote about aviation and aeronautics in the U.S. and abroad. Pogue died in 2014, aged 84.

Early life and education

William Pogue was born on January 23, 1930, in Okemah, Oklahoma, to Alex Wallis Pogue (1904–1998) and Margaret Frances Pogue (Template:Nee; 1906–1994) and he self-identifies as being of Choctaw descent.<ref name="oh" /> William had four siblings; two sisters and two brothers.<ref name="voic_">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref name="find_ColW" /> Pogue attended Lake Elementary School and Sand Springs High School (now Charles Page High School) in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, completing his high-school education in 1947.<ref name="rG72L" /><ref name="7Gbub" /> He participated in the Boy Scouts of America, earning the rank of Second Class.<ref name="WeQkq" /> Pogue attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1951. In 1960, he graduated from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, with a Master of Science degree in Mathematics.<ref name="tene" />

Career

Flight experience

Pogue was attracted to flying from an early age; he first flew an airplane while in high school.<ref name="je2Ia" /> Pogue enlisted in the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1951, underwent the aviation cadet training program in 1952.<ref name="JZ9Tj" /> He was later commissioned into the USAF as a second lieutenant.<ref name="s7XxE" /> While serving with the Fifth Air Force<ref name="aira_Reme" /> from 1953 to 1954 during the Korean War, he flew 43 combat missions in fighter bombers while completing a tour of duty.<ref name="Herald" /> From 1955 to 1957, Pogue was a member of the USAF Thunderbirds as an aerobatics pilot.<ref name="book_TheL" />

Pogue piloted more than 50 types and models of American and British aircraft, and was qualified as a civilian flight instructor. Pogue served in the mathematics department as an assistant professor at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 1960 to 1963.<ref name="7IWso" /> He applied to become an astronaut in 1962, but was rejected due to a lack of pilot experience.<ref name="Herald" /> In September 1965, Pogue completed a two-year tour as test pilot with the British Ministry of Aviation under an exchange program between the USAF and Royal Air Force and graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School in Farnborough, England.<ref name="Herald" /> He was an Air Force major at the time, and went to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas,<ref name="ibti_Will" /> from an assignment at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where he had been an instructor at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School since October 1965.<ref name="Herald" />

NASA career

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File:Skylab 4 crew at KSC Pad 39B (S73-36904).jpg

The Skylab 4 crew, from left: Gibson, Carr and Pogue

In April 1966, Pogue was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in Group 5 of the Apollo program.<ref name="yL1pM" /> He served as a member of the support crews for the Apollo 7,<ref name="GisrP" /> Apollo 11,<ref name="KOqye" /> 13Template:Efn<ref name="support crew" /> and Apollo 14 missions. He replaced Ed Givens, who died in a car accident, as Capsule Communicator for Apollo 7.Template:Sfn No crew members were assigned to the canceled Apollo missions but if normal crew rotation had been followed, Pogue would have been assigned as command module pilot for the Apollo 19 mission.<ref name="TghQx" />

File:Skylab 4 trash.jpg

Pogue (left) and Gerald Carr disposing of trash bags aboard the Skylab 4

Pogue was the pilot of Skylab 4, the third and final crewed visit to the Skylab Orbital Workshop, from November 16, 1973, to February 8, 1974.<ref name="skylab41">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At 84 days, 1 hour and 15 minutes, it was the longest crewed flight to that date.<ref name="skylab41"/><ref name="YwbYv" /> It held the record for the longest spaceflight until 1978, when the crew of Soviet ship Salyut 6 spent 140 days at the space station.<ref name="s7XxE" /> Pogue was accompanied on the Template:Convert flight by Commander Gerald Carr and science pilot Edward Gibson.<ref name="winona" /> As a crew, they completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives, and 13 student investigations across 1,214 revolutions of the Earth.<ref name="MBZHV" />

After around six weeks of flight, there were disagreements between crew and ground control.<ref name="s7XxE" /> On December 28, 1973, radio transmission was turned off with the crew spending the time relaxing and gazing at the Earth from orbit.<ref name="s7XxE" /> The incident was later referred to as the Skylab mutiny.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Pogue later commented that the team was “studying the Sun, the Earth below, and ourselves.”<ref name="s7XxE" /> Once radio transmission had resumed, an agreement for the flight to continue; with tensions being significantly diminished.<ref name="s7XxE" /> Pogue commented in 1985 that the flight had made him more empathetic, saying “I try to put myself into the human situation, instead of trying to operate like a machine.”<ref name="s7XxE" />

The crew also acquired extensive Earth resources observations data using Skylab's Earth resources experiment package camera and sensor array, and logged 338 hours of operations of the Apollo Telescope Mount that made extensive observations of the sun's processes.<ref name="EVA" /> Pogue and Carr viewed a comet transiting the sky during an extravehicular activity (EVA).<ref name="EVA" /> He logged 13 hours and 34 minutes in two EVAs outside the orbital workshop.<ref name="V14CF" /><ref name="book_Skyl" /> On September 1, 1975, Pogue retired from the USAF, as a colonel, and NASA,<ref name="q8fJo" /> to become vice president of High Flight Foundation.<ref name="SUiCo" /> Pogue logged 7,200 hours of flight time, including 4,200 hours in jet aircraft and 2,000 hours in space flight during his career.<ref name="jscbio" />

Post-NASA activities

After he retired from NASA, William Pogue was self-employed as an aerospace consultant and a producer of general-interest videos about space flight.<ref name="jscbio" /> In 1985, Pogue wrote a book called How Do You Go to the Bathroom in Space?, answering 187 common questions he received about spaceflight.<ref name="RgMUr" /> In 1992, he co-wrote The Trikon Deception, a science-fiction novel, with Ben Bova.<ref name="oh" /> He also became a consultant for aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Martin Marietta, helping to create space station technology.<ref name="s7XxE" /> Pogue continuously presented lectures over a 40-year career, working at more than 500 schools and 100 civic clubs.<ref name="wash_Will">Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

William Pogue married three times; his first marriage was in 1952 to Helen Juanita Dittmar, with whom he had three children.<ref name="Herald" /><ref name="s7XxE" /> The couple later divorced. He married Jean Ann Baird in 1979 and the marriage lasted until Baird's death in 2009.<ref name="book_TheL_L2dif" /> Pogue's last marriage was to Tina, whom he wed in 2012.<ref name="SentinelObit" />

Death

During the night of March 3, 2014, at the age of 84, Pogue died from natural causes at his home in Cocoa Beach, Florida.<ref name="WOyCK" /><ref name="rG72L" /><ref name="6rFW3" /> His ashes were sent into Earth orbit using Celestis, a memorial rocket service launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket on June 25, 2019.<ref name="SentinelObit" /><ref name="78MVu" /> A plaque commemorating his life was erected at Sand Springs, Oklahoma.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In popular culture

The 6139-6005 model Seiko watch which Pogue took on his Skylab mission as his personal watch is known to watch collectors as the "Pogue". It is of interest to collectors because it is the first automatic chronograph in space and unusual because NASA astronauts generally wore their NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Special honors

Pogue and his crew members received many awards. Pogue won the Johnson Space Center Superior Achievement Award in 1970.<ref name="jscbio" /> Three Skylab crews, including Pogue, were awarded the 1973 Robert J. Collier Trophy.<ref name="k1avO" /><ref name="HHY3l" /> In 1974, President Richard Nixon presented the Skylab 4 crew with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal,<ref name="w1cR4" /><ref name="mMrso" /> and the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} awarded the crew the De La Vaulx Medal and Vladimir Komarov Diploma that year.<ref name="M4KYX" /> Pogue was among nine Skylab astronauts who were presented with the City of Chicago Gold Medal in 1974 after a parade with 150,000 spectators.<ref name="jUcZ7" /> The American Astronautical Society's 1975 Flight Achievement Award was awarded to the crew.<ref name="tene" /><ref name="xdscl" /> Gerald P. Carr accepted the 1975 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from President Gerald Ford, which was awarded to the Skylab astronauts,<ref name="DxhiW" /> who also won the AIAA Haley Astronautics Award in 1975.<ref name="RJquQ" />

William R. Pogue Municipal AirportTemplate:Efn in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, was named in Pogue's honor in 1974.<ref name="sjBD8" /> The Oklahoma Aviation and Space Museum awarded him the Clarence E. Page Memorial Trophy for "making significant and ongoing contributions to the U.S. aviation industry" in February 1989.<ref name="N77YT" /> Page died eight days before the award was presented and Pogue used most of his speech to memorialize Page's life.<ref name="N77YT" /> Pogue was awarded an honorary doctorate of science from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1974.<ref name="ZjNqz" /> Pogue received the City of New York gold medal<ref name="jscbio" /> and the General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy for the same year.<ref name="4e1Hs" />

Pogue has been inducted into three halls of fame. He was inducted into the Five Civilized Tribes Hall of Fame in 1975,<ref name="Qxohs" /> and was one of five Oklahoman astronauts inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 1980.<ref name="MZ53L" /> Pogue was one of 24 Apollo astronauts who were inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.<ref name="iY5aG" /> As a member of the USAF Thunderbirds, he won the Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.<ref name="mountain" />

Bibliography

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See also

• List of spaceflight records
• The Astronaut Monument

References

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External links

• Template:Official website
• Astronautix biography of William R. Pogue
• Spacefacts biography of William R. Pogue
• Pogue at Encyclopedia of Science