Before becoming an astronaut, Gibson graduated from the University of Rochester and the California Institute of Technology. He became a research assistant in jet propulsion while completing his studies, and eventually became a research scientist for Philco Corporation until joining NASA in 1965. Gibson is the last surviving crew member of Skylab 4.
Gibson was selected as part of NASA Astronaut Group 4, the first group of scientist-astronauts. He served on the support crew of Apollo 12, the second Moon landing mission, before working on the development of the Skylabspace station. In 1973–74, Gibson made his only flight into space as science pilot aboard Skylab 4, the third and final crewed flight to Skylab. He, along with Commander Gerald Carr and Pilot William Pogue, spent just over 84 days in space.
Gibson resigned from NASA in December 1974, but returned in 1977 to preside over the selection of scientist-astronaut candidates. Gibson retired from NASA for the last time in October 1982.[1]: 336
Early life and education
Gibson was born in Buffalo, New York, on November 8, 1936.[1]: 62 From ages 2 to 8, Gibson battled osteomyelitis—soft spots in bones—and spent many months in and out of hospitals. Newly-available penicillin cured the disease. To strengthen his leg that was nearly amputated, Gibson took up sports: swimming, football, and track. He primarily used swimming to strengthen his leg.[2][3] He was active in the Boy Scouts of America. He earned the rank of First Class.[4]
While studying at Caltech, Gibson was a research assistant in the field of jet propulsion and classical physics. His technical publications are in the fields of plasma physics and solar physics. He was senior research scientist with the Applied Research Laboratories of the Philco Corporation at Newport Beach, California, from June 1964 until moving to NASA.[5] While at Philco, he did research in lasers and the optical breakdown of gases.[6]
Gibson has logged more than 4,300 hours flying time—2,270 hours in jet aircraft.[6]
He served as a member of the astronaut support crew and as a CAPCOM for the Apollo 12 lunar landing,[8] becoming the first from the scientist-astronaut group to get a crew assignment of any kind. He also participated in the design and testing of many elements of the Skylab space station.[6] As part of his preparation for the Skylab program, Gibson studied solar physics, ultimately writing an introductory monograph/textbook on solar astrophysicsThe Quiet Sun,[9][10] apart from 1973 English edition published in the United States there was 1977 Russian edition of this book, published in the Soviet Union by Mir Publishers.[11]
Gibson was the science pilot of Skylab 4.[12] The third and final crewed visit to the Skylab space station, it launched November 16, 1973, and concluded February 8, 1974.[13] This was the longest crewed flight (84 days 1 hour 15 minutes) in the history of crewed space exploration at that time. Gibson was accompanied on the record-setting 34.5-million-mile flight by Commander Gerald P. Carr and Pilot William R. Pogue.[13] They successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives, and 13 student investigations during their 1,214 revolutions of the Earth.[14] They also acquired a wide variety of Earth resources observations data using Skylab's Earth resources experiment package camera and sensor array.[15] Dr. Gibson was the crewman primarily responsible for the 338 hours of Apollo Telescope Mount operation, which made extensive observations of solar processes.[16]
Until the Soviet Union's Soyuz 26 broke the record in March 1978, Gibson and his Skylab 4 teammates held the world record for individual time in space: 2,017 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds.[15][17] Gibson logged 15 hours and 22 minutes in three EVAs outside the Skylab Orbital Workshop.[6] Gibson is the last surviving Skylab 4 crew member (Carr died in 2020, and Pogue died in 2014).
Gibson resigned from NASA in December 1974 to do research on Skylab solar physics data as a senior staff scientist with the Aerospace Corporation of Los Angeles, California. Beginning in March 1976, he served for one year as a consultant to ERNO Raumfahrttechnik GmbH, in West Germany, on Spacelab design under the sponsorship of a U.S. Senior Scientist Award form the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In March 1977, Gibson returned to the Astronaut Office astronaut candidate selection and training as Chief of the Scientist-Astronaut Candidates. During his second tenure at NASA, Gibson had hoped to fly on another space station mission due to his experience on Skylab, but at the same time was not keen on flying a Space Shuttle mission. He served as CAPCOM for STS-1.[1]: 513 Gibson ultimately decided to retire from NASA again on October 31, 1982.[1]: 336
In October 1990, Gibson began his own consulting firm, Gibson International Corp. The firm provides consulting services on program management, market development and space infrastructure design and operations.[6]
He has performed a significant amount of speaking and writing, and published a text book in solar physics, two novels, Reach (1989)[20] and In the Wrong Hands (1992),[21] and edited The Greatest Adventure, a 1994 compilation of stories and pictures on space missions from many astronauts and cosmonauts around the world.[22]
Special honors and awards
Gibson was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship and the R.C. Baker Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. He received the Johnson Space Center Certificate of Commendation (1970).[6] He received the City of New York Gold Medal (1974).[6] Gibson, along with the rest of the Skylab astronauts, received the City of Chicago Gold Medal in 1974.[23] Gibson received the 1974 FAI Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal.[24] In 1976, he received the U.S. Scientist Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which provided funds to research in West Germany for a year.[25] He received the JSC Special Achievement Award in 1978.[6] Gibson has also been presented with honorary doctorates of science from the University of Rochester and Wagner College in New York City, both in 1974.[6]
Gibson is married to Julianne Volk of Tonawanda, New York. He has four children: Jannet Lynn (born November 9, 1960), John Edward (born May 2, 1964), Julie Ann (born October 12, 1968), and Joseph Michael (born July 11, 1971).[36][37]
^"Ed Gibson: From Skylab to Space Station". Sentinel (monthly newspaper for employees). Vol. XXVIII, no. 4. May 1985. Gibson, who joined TRW in 1980, is project manager of TRW's space station studies on free-flying platforms and the service, repair and maintenance of spacecraft.
^"Ed Gibson: Experience". LinkedIn. Retrieved February 17, 2024. TRW, Inc; Jul 1980 - Aug 1987; Redondo Beach, California ... He won and led a support contract to NASA's GSFC for definition of Earth-observation satellites and servicing facilities on Space Station Freedom.
^Miles, Marvin (July 2, 1965). "A Mother's Prophecy". Los Angeles Times – via Newspapers.com. He met the press Thursday, with his attractive wife, Julianne...