Up for auction "Astronaut" James Van Hoften Hand Signed 3X5 Card W/ RARE Stamp . This item is certified authentic by Todd
Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity. ES - 8199 James
Dougal Adrianus "Ox" van Hoften, Ph.D. (born June 11,
1944) is an American civil and hydraulic engineer,
retired U.S. Navy officer and aviator, and a
former astronaut for NASA.
Van Hoften was born June 11, 1944, in Fresno, California. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where
he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. He considers Burlingame, California, to
be his hometown. He is of Dutch descent. Van Hoften is married to the former
Vallarie Davis of Pasadena, with three children:
Jennifer Lyn (born October 31, 1971), Jamie Juliana (born August 24, 1977), and
Victoria Jane (born March 17, 1981). He enjoys skiing, playing handball and racquetball, and jogging. In college he was a member of the Alpha Sigma chapter
of Pi Kappa Alpha. Graduated
from Mills High School, Millbrae, California, in
1962; received a Bachelor of Science degree
in Civil Engineering from
the University of California,
Berkeley in 1966; a Master of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy degrees
in Hydraulic Engineering from Colorado State University in
1968 and 1976, respectively. From 1969 to 1974, Van Hoften was a pilot in the United
States Navy. He received flight training at Pensacola, Florida, and completed jet pilot training at Beeville, Texas, in November 1970. He was then assigned to
the Naval Air Station, Miramar, California, to
fly F-4 Phantoms, and
subsequently to VF-121 Replacement Air Group. As a pilot with VF-154 assigned
to the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in
1972, Van Hoften participated in two cruises to Southeast Asia where he flew approximately 60 combat missions during the Vietnam War. He resumed his academic studies in 1974, and
completed a dissertation on the interaction of waves and turbulent
channel flow for his doctorate. In September
1976, he accepted an assistant professorship of Civil Engineering at the University of Houston, and
until his selection as an astronaut candidate, taught fluid mechanics and conducted research on biomedical
fluid flows concerning flows in artificial internal organs and valves. Dr. Van
Hoften has published a number of papers on turbulence, waves, and cardiovascular flows. From 1977 until
1980 he flew F-4N's with Naval Reserve Fighter
Squadron 201 at NAS Dallas and then three years as a member of the Texas Air National Guard with
the 147th Fighter Interceptor
Group at Ellington Field as a pilot in the F-4C.He has logged
3,300 hours flying time, the majority in jet aircraft. Dr. Van Hoften was selected as an astronaut
candidate by NASA in January 1978. He completed a 1-year training and
evaluation period in August 1979. From 1979 through the first flight, STS-1, Van
Hoften supported the Space Shuttle entry
and on-orbit guidance, navigation and flight control testing
at the Flight Systems Laboratory at Downey, California.
Subsequently, he was lead of the Astronaut Support Team at Kennedy Space Center,
Florida, responsible for the Space Shuttle turn-around testing and flight preparations.
He served as a Mission Specialist on STS-41-C in 1984, and STS-51-I in 1985. Dr. Van Hoften has logged a total 338
hours in space, including 22 hours of EVA flight time. |