David Scott
David Randolph Scott was born on the 6th of June, 1932 at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas. His father Tom William Scott served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Corps and eventually rose to the rank of brigadier general. The family lived at various military bases including an air base in Indiana before moving to Manila in the Philippines during 1936. David remembered his father as a strict disciplinarian who shaped his early years. When the family returned to the United States in December 1939 they settled back in San Antonio shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Scott attended Texas Military Institute because his father was deployed overseas for three years. He spent summers at Hermosa Beach in California with his college friend David Shattuck after whom he had been named. By the time his father returned home David was old enough to fly in a military aircraft with him. In his autobiography he described that flight as "the most exciting thing I had ever experienced". He joined the Boy Scouts of America and achieved the second-highest rank known as Life Scout.
After high school Scott took a government civil service examination to secure an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He lacked connections but earned a swimming scholarship to the University of Michigan where he set a freshman record in the 440-yard freestyle. Jack Craigie recalled that the West Point swimming coach Gordon Chalmers was happy to recruit Scott from one of the dominant programs of the time. Scott graduated fifth in his class of 633 cadets and received a Bachelor of Science degree in military science.
He was commissioned into the newly established United States Air Force in 1954. Scott completed primary pilot training at Marana Air Base in Arizona beginning in July 1954. He finished Undergraduate Pilot Training at Webb Air Force Base in Texas during 1955 before undergoing gunnery training at Laughlin Air Force Base and Luke Air Force Base. From April 1956 until July 1960 he flew F-86 Sabres and F-100 Super Sabres with the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands.
Deke Slayton informed David Scott on the 16th of March 1966 that he would fly with Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8. This made Scott the first Group 3 astronaut to become a member of a prime crew without having served on a backup crew. The mission originally planned to last three days ended after just ten hours due to an emergency. Armstrong and Scott had successfully docked with the Agena rocket but unexpected movement by the joined craft followed immediately.
Mission Control lost contact during this portion of the orbit while the astronauts' belief that the Agena was causing the problem proved incorrect. Once they performed an emergency undocking the spin only got worse. A thruster from the Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System fired unexpectedly creating a risk of blackouts or disintegration. The crew shut down those thrusters and Armstrong activated the Reaction Control System thrusters to negate the spin. Mission rules dictated that if these thrusters were activated early the spacecraft had to return to Earth.
Francis French and Colin Burgess noted in their book that Scott showed incredible presence of mind during the unexpected events. He thought to reenable ground control command of the Agena before the two vehicles separated even though he was out of contact with Mission Control. This allowed NASA to check the Agena from the ground for use in subsequent missions. Five days after the brief flight Scott was assigned to an Apollo crew. Along with Armstrong he received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the Air Force awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Scott served as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 9 which launched on the 3rd of March 1969. The planned February 28 launch date was postponed because all three astronauts had head colds. Within hours of launch Scott piloted the CSM Gumdrop away from the S-IVB rocket stage then turned it around to dock with the LM Spider still attached to the rocket. The combined spacecraft separated from the rocket shortly thereafter.
Rusty Schweickart vomited twice on the third day suffering from space adaptation syndrome. He was supposed to do a spacewalk from the LM's hatch to that of the CM but exited the LM while Scott stood in the CM's hatch instead. On the fifth day McDivitt and Schweickart flew away from the CSM while Scott remained alone in Gumdrop making him the first American astronaut to be alone in space since the Mercury program. The LM had gone over 100 miles from the CSM during the test before redocking.
Schweickart called these days "Dave Scott's mission" because the remainder of the flight was devoted to tests of the command module mostly performed by Scott. The mission stayed in space one orbit longer than planned due to rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean recovery zone. Apollo 9 splashed down on the 13th of March 1969 less than four nautical miles from the helicopter carrier USS Guadalcanal east of the Bahamas.
Apollo 15 launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A on the 26th of July 1971 as the first J Mission emphasizing scientific research. Scott and James Irwin landed the LM Falcon on the Moon on July 30 with Scott assuming manual control for the final descent after computer-controlled flight path difficulties. They donned pressure suits and Scott performed the first stand-up EVA by poking his head out of the docking port on top of the LM.
After deploying the Lunar Roving Vehicle Scott drove with Irwin toward Hadley Rille where they took samples including a rock named Great Scott. On August 1 they discovered a plagioclase-rich anorthosite at Spur Crater later dubbed the Genesis Rock by the press. On their third moonwalk on August 2 Scott dropped a hammer and a feather before the television camera to demonstrate Galileo's theory that objects in a vacuum drop at the same rate.
Scott left a memorial consisting of a plaque bearing names and a small aluminum sculpture called Fallen Astronaut by Paul Van Hoeydonck. Apollo 15 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean north of Honolulu on the 7th of August 1971. The crew was the first to land on the Moon without being quarantined upon return.
The crew arranged with friend Horst Eiermann to carry postal covers to the Moon in exchange for about $7,000 for each astronaut. Slayton had issued regulations requiring personal items taken in spacecraft be listed for approval which was not done for the covers. Scott carried the covers into the CM in his spacesuit and they landed there with the astronauts. He sent 100 of them to Eiermann while late in 1971 West German stamp dealer Hermann Sieger offered the remaining covers for sale against the astronauts' wishes.
Slayton learned of the unauthorized covers in April 1972 and removed Scott Worden and Irwin as backup crew members for Apollo 17. The matter became public in June 1972 and the astronauts were reprimanded for poor judgment by NASA and the Air Force the following month. A press release dated the 11th of July 1972 stated that their actions would be given due consideration in future selection making it extremely unlikely they would fly again.
Newsweek reported that no forthcoming missions existed for which he was being considered. Alan Shepard then head of the Astronaut Office offered him a choice between backing up Apollo 17 or serving as special assistant on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Scott chose the latter though a NASA spokesman stated he had no choice but to leave the Astronaut Corps.
Scott traveled to Moscow leading a team of technical experts during the Apollo-Soyuz mission where he met Soviet commander Alexei Leonov. In 1973 he was offered the job of deputy director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center located at Edwards. On the 18th of April 1975 at age 42 Scott became the Center Director after retiring from the Air Force with the rank of colonel. He found the work interesting but decided to leave NASA in 1977 due to budget cuts and the end of Approach and Landing Tests for the Space Shuttle.
Entering the private sector Scott founded Scott Science and Technology Inc. One of his firms went out of business after the 1986 Challenger disaster even though the company played no part in the tragedy. In 1992 a Prescott Arizona court found him guilty of defrauding nine investors in a partnership organized by him. He was ordered to pay roughly $400,000 to investors in technology that was never developed.
Up Next
Continue Browsing
Common questions
When and where was David Scott born?
David Randolph Scott was born on the 6th of June, 1932 at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas.
What happened during the Gemini 8 mission with Neil Armstrong?
The Gemini 8 mission ended after just ten hours due to an emergency spin caused by a thruster from the Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System firing unexpectedly. Armstrong and Scott successfully undocked from the Agena rocket to negate the spin and return to Earth safely.
Why did Apollo 9 splash down less than four nautical miles from the helicopter carrier USS Guadalcanal east of the Bahamas?
Apollo 9 splashed down on the 13th of March 1969 in that location because rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean recovery zone forced the mission to stay in space one orbit longer than planned.
What experiment did David Scott perform on the Moon during Apollo 15?
On August 2 during his third moonwalk, David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather before the television camera to demonstrate Galileo's theory that objects in a vacuum drop at the same rate.
How did unauthorized postal covers affect David Scott's career?
Scott was removed as a backup crew member for Apollo 17 and reprimanded by NASA and the Air Force for poor judgment regarding the sale of unauthorized postal covers. A press release dated the 11th of July 1972 stated these actions made it extremely unlikely he would fly again.