Robert A. Parker

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Robert A. Parker

Robert Allan Ridley Parker (born December 14, 1936) is the former director of the NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA astronaut.

Parker was born in New York City but grew up in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Shrewsbury is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. Shrewsbury is an unusual New England town in that it was neither a mill town nor a farming village....
, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north....
. He married the former Judy Woodruff of San Marino

San Marino, California

San Marino is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, California, United States. Its ZIP code of 91108 ranks the city as the 47th most expensive place to live in the United States, with the median home sale price in 2008 of $1.55 million....
, California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. He has five children and nine grandchildren.

ttended primary and secondary schools in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

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Encyclopedia

Robert Allan Ridley Parker (born December 14, 1936) is the former director of the NASA

NASA

Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

San Marino, California

California

Early life

He attended primary and secondary schools in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He received a bachelor of arts degree in Astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomy is the science of Astronomical object and Phenomenon that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere . It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the physical cosmology....
and Physics

Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
from Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private university Liberal arts colleges in the United States in Amherst, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821, it is the third oldest college in List of colleges and universities in Massachusetts, and has been coeducational since 1975....
in 1958 and a doctorate in Astronomy from the California Institute of Technology

California Institute of Technology

The California Institute of Technology is a private university research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech maintains a strong emphasis on the natural sciences and engineering....
in 1962. Prior to his selection for astronaut training, Dr. Parker was an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

NASA experience

Parker was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He was a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 15

Apollo 15

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon. It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long duration stays on the Moon with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions....
and 17

Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh Human spaceflight in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a United States human spaceflight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program....
missions and served as Program Scientist for the Skylab

Skylab

Skylab was the first space station the United States launched into orbit, and the second space station ever visited by a human crew. The 100 ton space station was in Earth's orbit from 1973 to 1979, and it was visited by crews three times in 1973 and 1974....
Program Director's Office during the three manned Skylab flights.

From March 1988 to March 1989 Parker was stationed at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the Capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790....
where he served as Director of the Space Flight/Space Station Integration Office.

A veteran of two Spacelab

Spacelab

Spacelab was a reusable laboratory flown into space on the Space Shuttle. It allowed scientists to perform experiments in microgravity in Earth orbit....
missions, Parker was a mission specialist on STS-9/Spacelab-1 (28 November-8 December 1983) and on STS-35 (2 December-10 December 1990) which featured the ASTRO-1 ultraviolet astronomy laboratory.

Post-flight experience

Parker was the Director of the Division of Policy and Plans for the Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. from January 1991 to December 1991. From January 1992 to November 1993 he was Director of the Spacelab and Operations Program. From December 1993 to August 1997 he was Manager of the Space Operations Utilization Program. In August 1997 he was named Director of the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. Parker retired from NASA on August 31, 2005.

He has logged over 3,500 hours flying time in jet aircraft and 463 hours in space.

Honors & memberships

Parker is a member of the American Astronomical Society

American Astronomical Society

The American Astronomical Society is a United States society of professional astronomy and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC....
and of the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy....
.

He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (1973) and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (1974).

Media

Parker was a contributor to the book "NASA's Scientist-Astronauts" by David Shayler and Colin Burgess

Colin Burgess (author)

Colin Burgess is an Australian author and historian, specializing in space flight and military history. He is a former customer service manager for Qantas Airways, and a regular contributor to the collectSPACE online community....
.

In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon Parker was portrayed by Chris Ellis

Chris Ellis (actor)

Chris Ellis was an American actor with parts in movies such as My Cousin Vinny and Days of Thunder as well as countless television programs....
.