Donald Kent “Deke” Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. After initially being grounded by a heart condition, he served as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, making him responsible for crew assignments at NASA from November 1963 until March 1972. At that time he was granted medical clearance to fly as the docking module pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. At the time of the flig...
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Donald Kent “Deke” Slayton (March 1, 1924 – June 13, 1993) was one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. After initially being grounded by a heart condition, he served as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, making him responsible for crew assignments at NASA from November 1963 until March 1972. At that time he was granted medical clearance to fly as the docking module pilot of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. At the time of the flight, he became the oldest person to fly into space, a record currently held by John Glenn on STS-95.
Slayton was born on a farm near Sparta, Wisconsin. A childhood farm equipment accident left him with a severed left ring finger. He entered the United States Army Air Forces as a cadet in 1942, training as a B-25 bomber pilot. He flew 56 combat missions with the 340th Bombardment Group over Europe during World War II and later flew seven combat missions over Japan in a Douglas A-26 Invader as part of the 319th Bombardment Group.
After the war,...
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