Gary Payton 

Gary Payton NASA Bio

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Gary Payton was selected for the U.S. Air Force Manned Space Flight Engineer Program in February 1980. Nearly five years later, he served as a payload specialist for the space shuttle program’s first military mission, STS-51C, aboard space shuttle Discovery. By the end of the mission, Payton had traveled over 1.2 million miles in 48 Earth orbits and logged more than 73 hours in space. 

In a 23-year Air Force career, Payton served as a pilot, instructor pilot, spacecraft operations director and space technology manager. After retiring from the Air Force with the rank of colonel, Payton occupied a number of organizational leadership positions — including Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Programs (2005-10), Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Transportation Technology at NASA (1997-2000) and Deputy for Advanced Systems in the Missile Defense Agency (2002-05). 

After completing his bachelor’s degree at the Air Force Academy in 1971, Payton enrolled in a Purdue graduate program designed in cooperation with the Air Force Academy for students with an interest in astronautics. Payton is one of seven program graduates who became astronauts, joining John Blaha, Roy Bridges Jr., John Casper, Richard Covey, Guy Gardner and Loren Shriver.