yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (12/13/90)
Mark Hess/Ed Campion
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. December 12, 1990
(Phone: 202/453-8536)
Barbara Schwartz
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 713/483-5111)
RELEASE: 90-159
ASTRONAUT SPRINGER RETIRES FROM NASA, MARINE CORPS
Col. Robert C. Springer, selected as an astronaut in 1980
and a mission specialist on two Space Shuttle flights, has
retired from NASA and the U.S. Marine Corps.
During his first space flight, STS-29 in March 1989,
Springer and his crewmates deployed a NASA Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite and performed numerous secondary experiments,
including a Space Station "heat pipe" radiator experiment, two
student experiments, a protein crystal growth experiment and a
chromosome and plant cell division experiment. Additionally, the
crew took more than 4,000 photographs of the Earth using several
types of cameras, including the IMAX 70-mm movie camera.
Springer also flew on STS-38, a Department of Defense
flight, which was launched on Nov. 15, 1990.
Springer's technical assignments have included serving as a
member of the support crew for STS-3, concept development studies
for the Space Operations Center and the coordination of various
aspects of the final development of the Remote Manipulator System
for operational use. He also worked in the Mission Control
Center, Johnson Space Center, as spacecraft communicator for
seven flights in 1984 and 1985.
Springer announced he will work for Boeing Aerospace and
Electronics Division in Huntsville, Ala., as the manager of the
Space Station Freedom's element integration.