- Born
- Birth nameJohn Elmer Blaha
- John Blaha was born on August 26, 1942 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.
- SpouseBrenda I. Walters (3 children)
- Blaha studied Russian during 1994 at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and continued to an intensive training program at the Cosmonaut Training Center, Star City, Russia in 1995. During the launch STS-79 (September 16, 1996), he transferred to the Mir Space Station, where he spent 4 months with the Mir 22 Cosmonaut crew conducting material science, fluid science, and life science research. Blaha returned to Earth aboard STS-81 on January 22, 1997.
- Blaha retired from NASA in September 1997 to return to his hometown of San Antonio, where he joined the Executive Management Group of the United Services Automobile Association.
- He logged more than 7,000 hours of flying time in 34 different aircraft, and wrote numerous technical articles on spacecraft performance and control.
- Blaha served as the Chairman, NASA Space Flight Safety Panel; Weather Manager, Mission Management Team; lead spacecraft communicator; and member of the NASA Space Shuttle Improvement Panel. Blaha also led the design, development, and integration of the Orbiter Head Up Display system. He led the development of contingency abort procedures which significantly improve crew survivability in the event of multiple main engine failures during ascent.
- Selected as an astronaut in May 1980, Blaha logged 161 days in space on 5 space missions. He served as pilot on the shuttles STS-33 and STS 29, was Spacecraft Commander on STS-58 and STS-43, served on Mir-22 as Board Engineer 2, and was a Mission Specialist on STS-79 and STS-81.
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