Paul J. Weitz

Paul Joseph Weitz (July 25, 1932 – October 22, 2017) was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, who flew into space twice. He was a member of the three-man crew who flew on Skylab 2, the first crewed Skylab mission. He was also commander of the STS-6 mission, the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

Biography Paul J. Weitz was born in 1932 in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. He went on to complete a master's degree in engineering and was a pilot in the Navy. He went on to be an astronaut who went in to space aboard Skylab and the Space Shuttle, later serving as a NASA official.

Early years and education Weitz was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 25, 1932. After attending McKinley Elementary School, he graduated from Harbor Creek High School in Harborcreek, Pennsylvania, in 1949 as Valedictorian. The high school stadium was later named after him. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 1954. Ten years later, he received a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He served as pilot on the crew of Skylab 2 (SL-2), which launched on May 25 and splashed down on June 22, 1973. SL-2 was the first crewed Skylab mission. The mission lasted for 28 days, a record at the time.

In 1976 Weitz retired from NASA and went back to the Navy, but he returned to NASA to fly the maiden spaceflight of the Challenger at over 50 years old.

Weitz and Donald H. Peterson (right) aboard Space Shuttle Challenger during the STS-6 mission Weitz was spacecraft commander on the crew of STS-6, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 4, 1983. This was the maiden voyage of the orbiter Challenger. During the mission, the crew conducted numerous experiments in materials processing, recorded lightning activities, deployed IUS/TDRS-A, conducted extravehicular activity while testing a variety of support systems and equipment in preparation for future spacewalks, and also carried three Getaway Specials. Mission duration was 120 hours before Challenger landed on a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on April 9, 1983. With the completion of this flight, Weitz logged a total of 793 hours in space. Air Medal (5) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's V. M. Komarov Diploma for 1973 (1974) Gerald Carr accepted the 1975 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from President Ford, awarded to the Skylab astronauts. He was one of 24 Apollo astronauts who were inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.