Donald Kent "Deke" Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was an American Air Force pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. He went on to become NASA's first chief of the Astronaut Office and director of Flight Crew Operations, responsible for NASA crew assignments.

Slayton joined the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and flew in the Europe and the Pacific theaters. He left the Army after World War II, went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1949, and later joined the Minnesota Air National Guard after working for Boeing as an aeronautical engineer. He joined the United States Air Force, and attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in 1955. In 1959, he applied to, and was selected as one of the Mercury Seven, NASA's first class of astronauts. Slayton was scheduled to pilot the second U.S. crewed orbital spaceflight, but was grounded in 1962 by atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm. In March 1972, he was medically cleared to fly and was the docking module pilot of the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). Slayton continued to work at NASA until 1982. He also helped develop the Space Shuttle.

Slayton died from brain cancer on June 13, 1993, aged 69.

Early life and career

thumb|left|Deke Slayton as a bomber pilot during [[World War II]]

thumb|right|Deke Slayton (right) beside a [[Douglas A-26 Invader|Douglas A-26 bomber]]

Donald Kent Slayton was born on March 1, 1924, on a farm near Leon, Wisconsin, to Charles Sherman Slayton and Victoria Adelia Slayton (). He was of English and Norwegian descent. From a young age, he worked on the farm to raise sheep and cows, and grow tobacco. Throughout Slayton's childhood, his family's home did not have electricity or indoor plumbing. At the age of five, Slayton was clearing a horse-drawn hay mower when his left ring finger was severed. After moving to Seattle, Slayton lived in a rooming house and began working as a junior design engineer. While at Boeing, he worked on the B-52 Stratofortress and the KC-97 Stratofreighter. He was first assigned to the F-102, and tested the Matador and Genie missiles, and later tested the stall-spin characteristics of the F-105. In 1958, he helped test Britain's first supersonic fighter, the English Electric P1B Lightning. In 1959, during a centrifuge training course, he underwent an electrocardiogram that found that he had erratic heart activity. He received further medical evaluation at Brooks Air Force Base and was diagnosed with idiopathic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, Initially, Slayton's ineligibility was only for his assigned mission, and he attempted to improve his health by exercising more regularly and abstaining from alcohol. NASA leadership determined that Slayton was still at risk for atrial fibrillation and removed his eligibility to fly any of the remaining Mercury missions. Slayton continued to be responsible for making crew assignments, and determined the astronauts that would fly on the Gemini and Apollo missions. in 1971 Slayton was examined at the Mayo Clinic after a long period without heart fibrillation, and was determined to not have a coronary condition. On March 13, 1972, NASA announced that Slayton had returned to flight status.

The Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft both launched on July 15, 1975. On July 17, the two craft rendezvoused in orbit and the American astronauts conducted crew transfers with cosmonauts Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. At the end of the flight, an erroneous switch setting led to noxious nitrogen tetroxide fumes from the command module's RCS thrusters being sucked into the cabin during landing and the crew was hospitalized as a precaution in Honolulu, Hawaii, for two weeks. During hospitalization, a lesion was discovered on Slayton's lung and removed. It was determined to be benign, but he would have likely been grounded from ASTP if it had been discovered before the flight.

Personal life

Slayton married Marjorie "Marge" Lunney (1921–1989) on May 18, 1955, and they had one son, Kent Sherman. They divorced in April 1978, and Slayton moved to a condominium near the Johnson Space Center. Following his death, President Bill Clinton issued a statement of condolences stating Slayton "met adversity with determination, and discouragement with a dedication to never yield his dreams" and "his commitment to space exploration helped pull the world into an era of new possibilities that grows and expands to this day." He was cremated and his ashes scattered over his family farm in Sparta, Wisconsin.

Awards and honors

Slayton's military and NASA decorations: Additionally, he received the Collier Trophy, the Gen. Billy Mitchell Award, and the AIAA Haley Astronautics Award for 1978. Slayton received an Honorary D.Sc. from Carthage College in 1961, and an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering from Michigan Technological University in 1965. the International Space Hall of Fame in 1990, the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996, and the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2001. The Texas Oncology-Deke Slayton Cancer Center in Webster, Texas, is named in his honor. The main stretch of road in League City, Texas, FM 518, was renamed Deke Slayton Highway. The Deke Slayton Memorial Space & Bicycle Museum in Sparta, Wisconsin was named in his honor. The Slayton biographical exhibit includes his Mercury space suit, his Ambassador of Exploration Award, which showcases a lunar sample, and more. In nearby La Crosse, Wisconsin, an annual summer aircraft air show, the Deke Slayton Airfest, has been held in his honor, featuring modern and vintage military and civilian aircraft, along with NASA speakers.

Although the October 2014, Cygnus CRS Orb-3 mission named the S.S. Deke Slayton was lost when its Antares rocket exploded during launch, the Cygnus CRS Orb-4 Orbital ATK space vehicle S.S. Deke Slayton II was successfully launched to the International Space Station on an Atlas V rocket on December 6, 2015. In 2017, Solstar and NASA developed a preliminary design for Slayton Space Communicator (SC-Slayton), a commercial router on the International Space Station named in his honor. The device is intended for low Earth orbit service (LEO).

In media

  • 1983 film The Right Stuff – played by Scott Paulin
  • 1995 film Apollo 13 – played by Chris Ellis
  • 1996 TV movie Apollo 11 – played by Jack Conley
  • 1998 TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon – played by Nick Searcy
  • 2009 TV movie Moonshot – played by Nigel Whitmey
  • 2015 TV series The Astronaut Wives Club – played by Kenneth Mitchell
  • 2016 film Hidden Figures – played by Evan Holtzman
  • 2018 film First Man – played by Kyle Chandler
  • 2019 TV series For All Mankind – played by Chris Bauer
  • 2020 Disney+/National Geographic miniseries The Right Stuff – played by Micah Stock

See also

  • Apollo–Soyuz Commemorative stamp
  • List of brain tumor patients

Notes

References

  • Deke Slayton Airfest
  • Astronautix biography of Deke Slayton
  • Spacefacts biography of Deke Slayton
  • Deke Slayton Mercury Program Notebook and Deke Slayton ASTP Joint Operations Checklist at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections