Edward G. Gibson

Edward Gibson

A Word from the Author of REACH

Right from the start my academic achievements exploded. I was President of my 1st grade class—two years in a row! Showing some consistency, I repeated fourth grade as well. Not wishing to alarm anyone, I accelerated slowly yet climbed all the way up to mediocre in high school. Only one college would have me, The University of Rochester. I saw it as having two qualifications: it was an excellent school and, most important, it was only 60 miles from my high school sweetheart, Julie, now my wife of 55 years.

Once in college, I sensed that it was “now or never” and I made an amazing discovery: If you work harder, your performance improves. Really? No kidding. I didn’t know that! After four years those colleges that rejected offered me full fellowships for graduate school. Instead, I went to the premier school in the nation for space science and physics, the California Institute of Technology, where I earned a Ph.D.

After graduation and doing a year of research, NASA put out a call for their first group of Scientist Astronauts, scientists who wanted to fly high performance aircraft and fly in space. I thought long and hard about it and applied at 8 AM that morning. After nine months, NASA discovered that they could find only six semi-healthy scientists from a pool of about 1000. Being one, I then completed 53-weeks of training and earned Air Force wings; subsequently I logged over 2,200 hours in high performance aircraft and 100 hours in helicopters.

Life then got interesting:

 - Became proficient in operational human spaceflight at NASA

 - Served on the support crew for the Apollo 12 mission and as the ground communicator with the flight crew while they explored the moon

 - Flew on the last mission to Skylab, America’s first space station

 - With my two crewmates, traveled 35 million miles and set a world record of 84 days in space that lasted as an American record for 21 years

 - Completed three space walks during 15 hours outside the station

 - Remained in the aerospace business until retirement.

Currently, I am writing, speaking and spoiling grandchildren.