Dale Allan GardnerArticle Free Pass
(born Nov. 8, 1948, Fairmont, Minn.—died Feb. 19, 2014, Colorado Springs, Colo.), American astronaut who was a topflight U.S. naval officer who test piloted fighter aircraft, notably the F-14 (“Tomcat”), prior to entering (1978) NASA’s astronaut program and becoming (1984) the commander of the space shuttle Discovery, leading a mission that involved him in completing the first salvage in space—that of two wayward satellites. While trying to retrieve the two communication satellites (valued at $35 million each) that had been launched into improper orbits after their positioning rockets misfired, Gardner and fellow astronaut Joseph P. Allen used jet-propulsion backpacks to help them steer the satellites into the Discovery cargo hold. Fighting the effects of weightlessness in space, Gardner and Allen had to prevent one of the 544-kg (1,200-lb) satellites from hitting the shuttle. Gardner, who logged 337 hours in space and made 225 Earth orbits, made his debut space shuttle flight in 1983 aboard the Challenger. As a flight specialist on that mission, he practiced moving heavy objects by using the mechanical arm. The 1986 Challenger disaster that resulted in the deaths of several astronauts scuttled his prospects for future shuttle flights. Gardner returned to active duty in the navy and later served as deputy director for space control for the Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs. He later worked in the private sector.
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