Four New Members in Astronaut Hall of Fame

Richard Truly was also a MOL astronaut, and joined NASA in 1969. During the Skylab program he served as capsule communicator for all three Skylab missions. Truly flew as pilot on the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) of the Shuttle Enterprise in 1977. This experience clearly earned him the pilot seat on the second Space Shuttle flight in November 1981. In 1983 he commanded the first Space Shuttle to be launched at night. Truly also served as NASA Administrator from 1989-1992.

Joe Engle flew in space before he even became an astronaut for NASA. As an X-15 pilot he became one of the few pilots to break the 50-mile altitude barrier (NASA and the Air Force consider space to begin at 50 miles above the Earth). He became an astronaut for NASA in 1966. Engle served as lunar module backup for Apollo 14.Along with Truly, he flew Enterprise during ALT in 1977. He was the commander of the second Shuttle mission. He flew once more as commander aboard Discovery in 1985.

Fred Hauck is the first inductee to have solely worked on the Shuttle program while working for NASA. He was a member of the 1978 astronaut class. Hauck flew as pilot on STS-7, the first five-man crew to enter space. He then commanded STS-51A in 1984 aboard Discovery. However, Hauck is perhaps best remembered for commanding STS-26 in 1988. STS-26 was America's first manned return to space since the Challenger disaster.

The Astronaut Hall of Fame had its beginnings in 1984 when the then 6 living Mercury astronauts founded the Mercury Seven Foundation. Now called the Astronaut Science Foundation, it remains dedicated to space science education. The Hall of Fame building was constructed in 1990. The Foundation has inducted all of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz astronauts who flew on a mission. Last weeks ceremony marks only the fourth induction. With the massive rise in Shuttle astronauts during the past twenty years, the voting panel will face difficult induction decisions. With so many candidates the Hall of Fame Museum may have to build a new wing to honor them all.

Including Crippen, Engle, Truly and Hauck, they are only 48 members in the hall of fame. Astronauts are already an elite group, but belonging to the Hall of Fame means you are in an even more illustrious crowd. Now these four space veterans are on the same short list with

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