David R. Scott

Astronaut David Scott was born June 6th, 1932, in San Antonio, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy and two advanced degrees from MIT including a Masters of Science degree and an Engineers degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics. Scott graduated fifth in a class of 633 at West Point and subsequently chose an Air Force career. He retired from the Air Force in March 1975 with the rank of Colonel and over 5600 hours of flying time.

In 1966, he and command pilot Neil Armstrong served together on the Gemini 8 mission. Scott then served as command module pilot for Apollo 9—a 10-day earth orbital flight launched on March 3rd, 1969, with crew members James McDivitt and Russell Schweickart. This was the first flight of the complete set of Apollo hardware, the Command Service Module and the Lunar Module.

In his next assignment, Scott was designated backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 12. Scott made his third space flight as spacecraft commander of Apollo 15 in 1971 with command module pilot Alfred Worden and lunar module pilot James Irwin. Apollo 15 was the fourth manned moon landing mission. The lunar module remained on the lunar surface for 66 hours and 54 minutes, setting a new record for lunar extravehicular activity (EVA).

David Scott is only one of three Astronauts who have flown both earth orbital and lunar Apollo missions.