Samuel T. Durrance
American scientist and astronaut (1943–2023) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American scientist and astronaut (1943–2023) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Samuel Thornton Durrance (September 17, 1943 – May 5, 2023) was an American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist.
Samuel Thornton Durrance | |
|---|---|
Durrance in 1996 | |
| Born | September 17, 1943 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | May 5, 2023 (aged 79) Viera, Florida, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Space career | |
| JHU Payload Specialist | |
Time in space | 25d 14h 13min |
| Missions | STS-35, STS-67 |
Mission insignia |   |
Durrance was born September 17, 1943, in Tallahassee, Florida, but grew up in Tampa, Florida.[1] He attended Wilson Junior High and graduated from Plant High School[2] in 1961, lettering in American football for three years and playing both defense and offense.[3] He received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in physics (with honors), at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), 1972 and 1974, respectively,[1] and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in astro-geophysics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 1980.[3] In 2000, he was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder along with eight other astronaut alums.[4]
Durrance was a principal research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.[5] He was a co-investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, one of the instruments of the Astro Observatory.[5]
Beginning in 2001, he was the executive director of the Florida Space Research Institute which was located at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.[6]
Durrance resided in Melbourne, Florida, and was a professor of physics and space sciences at Florida Institute of Technology.[7]
Durrance was a member of the American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union, International Astronomical Union, Association of Space Explorers, Planetary Society, and Phi Kappa Phi.[1]
Durrance had been involved in the flight hardware development, optical and mechanical design, construction, and integration of the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope and the Astro Observatory,[8] and had conducted research and directed graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University[9] He had designed and built spectrometers, detectors, and imaging systems, and made numerous spacecraft and ground-based astronomical observations. He conceived and directed a program at Johns Hopkins University to develop adaptive-optics instrumentation for ground-based astronomy. He led the team that designed and constructed the Adaptive Optics Coronagraph, which led to the discovery of the first cool brown dwarf orbiting a nearby star. He was also a co-discoverer of changes in the planet-forming disk surrounding the star beta Pictoris.
In March 1986,[10] Durrance's first mission was for STS-61-E.[11] It was canceled after the Challenger disaster.[1] Durrance logged over 615 hours in space as a payload specialist and member of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia for the STS-35/Astro-1 and Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-67/Astro-2 missions.[9]
Durrance was employed by the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, serving as a professor in the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences.[12]
Durrance was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2021. He died at a hospice facility in Viera, Florida, on May 5, 2023, of complications from a fall, after battling dementia and Parkinson's disease. He was 79.[13]
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