Bill Thornton
NASA Remembers Astronaut William Thornton
“NASA is saddened to learn of the loss of former physician-astronaut, Dr. William Thornton, who died last week at his home in Boerne, Texas, at the age of 91. Thornton was selected as an astronaut in 1967, and launched twice on the space shuttle Challenger on STS-8 and STS-51B, the Spacelab 3 mission.”
Another member of an exceptional generation of Americans. Rest In Peace, Dr Thornton. :'(
I remember on STS-8 many reporters asked how does an old guy like him endure spaceflight, which Dr. Thornton answered it is the physiological age that matters not the chronological age. I was impressed.
I worked closely with Bill as we maintained much of his personal flight hardware in our small lab in B. 37 at JSC. He was focused on promoting exercise in space by developing lighter and more reliable flight treadmills. He was also adamant about mitigating space motion sickness using cognitive and pharmaceutical countermeasures.
The night he returned to JSC from flight, he would be in the lab retrieving the data from hardware he took with him, asking us for assistance. He was gruff, tough, and kind.
On the hottest days in Houston, until he retired, he could be seen on his 5-mile afternoon runs around JSC. Sorry to hear of his passing.