Stephen Thorne | |
---|---|
Born | Stephen Douglas Thorne February 11, 1953 |
Died | May 24, 1986 Santa Fe, Texas, U.S. | (aged 33)
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) |
Space career | |
NASA astronaut candidate | |
Rank | Lieutenant Commander, USN |
Selection | NASA Group 11 (1985) |
Stephen Douglas Thorne (February 11, 1953 – May 24, 1986), (Lt Cmdr, USN), was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot and a NASA astronaut candidate.
He was born on February 11, 1953, in Frankfurt, West Germany, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975. He was a Navy fighter pilot from 1976 until he became a test pilot in 1981.
He was accepted for NASA astronaut training in June 1985, but died in an airplane accident where he was a passenger on May 24, 1986.
He was survived by his wife, Sue Lotz of Staunton, Virginia. His interests included baseball, running, reading, and general aviation.
He graduated from T. L. Hanna High School, Anderson, South Carolina, in 1971 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1975.
Following an unsuccessful application for NASA Astronaut Group 10,[2] Thorne was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1985 and in August, commenced a one-year training and evaluation program to qualify him for subsequent assignment as a pilot on future Space Shuttle flights.
Thorne was killed in an aircraft accident of a stunt plane, in which he was a passenger, on May 24, 1986, two months before his astronaut class graduated. The stunt plane crashed while performing maneuvers near Santa Fe, Texas, killing Thorne and NASA engineer James Simons.[3] He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[4]
Received Navy Commendation Medal in January 1986.