Gregory Jarvis

Gregory Jarvis was an American electrical engineer and a NASA Payload Specialist who perished in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Selected by Hughes Aircraft Company for a satellite deployment mission, his flight on the Space Shuttle Challenger was his first and only space mission. Jarvis was one of the seven crew members killed when the Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986.

Early life and education

Gregory Bruce Jarvis was born on August 24, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. He spent much of his youth in Mohawk, within the Mohawk Valley region of New York. He attended Mohawk Central School, where he demonstrated an early aptitude for science and mathematics. For his undergraduate studies, Jarvis enrolled at the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York system, graduating in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He later pursued a Master of Science degree in the same field from Northeastern University in Boston, which he completed in 1969 while simultaneously beginning his professional engineering career.

Engineering career

Following his graduation from the University at Buffalo, Jarvis began his engineering career with the RCA corporation. He worked on satellite technology at their facility in Burlington, Massachusetts. In 1973, he joined Hughes Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California, a major defense contractor and aerospace firm. At Hughes, Jarvis specialized in the design and testing of communications satellite systems. His work primarily involved the LEASAT satellite program, a series of U.S. Navy communications satellites. His expertise in spacecraft power systems and his role as a mission integration engineer made him a valuable asset to the company's space projects.

NASA career and selection

In 1984, Hughes Aircraft Company selected Jarvis as a company candidate for the NASA Payload Specialist program, specifically for a mission to deploy a LEASAT satellite. He was officially named a Payload Specialist candidate in 1984. Jarvis underwent astronaut training at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, preparing for his assignment to a Space Shuttle mission. His initial flight assignment was to STS-51-D in 1985, but he was reassigned multiple times due to payload and crew manifest changes. These reassignments included brief assignments to STS-61-C and finally to STS-51-L, the ill-fated mission of the Challenger. His primary role on the mission was to conduct experiments related to fluid dynamics in microgravity for Hughes Aircraft Company.

Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

On January 28, 1986, Jarvis boarded the Challenger for the STS-51-L mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was highly publicized due to the presence of Christa McAuliffe, the first Teacher in Space. Seventy-three seconds after liftoff, a failure of an O-ring seal in the right Solid Rocket Booster, exacerbated by the unusually cold temperatures at Launch Complex 39-B, led to the structural breakup of the Challenger. The crew module and vehicle debris fell into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Canaveral. Jarvis, along with commander Francis R. Scobee, pilot Michael J. Smith, and mission specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald McNair, and Christa McAuliffe, was killed. The subsequent investigation was conducted by the Rogers Commission.

Legacy and honors

Gregory Jarvis was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Ronald Reagan. His name is inscribed on the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. A scholarship fund was established in his memory at his alma mater, the University at Buffalo. The Gregory B. Jarvis Award is presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for contributions to space technology. A mountain peak in the Adirondack Mountains of New York was renamed Mount Jarvis in his honor. His legacy, intertwined with the lessons of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, continues to be remembered in the annals of the Space Shuttle program and American space exploration.

Category:American astronauts Category:1944 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Category:People from Detroit Category:University at Buffalo alumni