News Archive / Author: Tom Jones

Thomas D. Jones, PhD, is a scientist, author, pilot, and veteran NASA astronaut. In more than eleven years with NASA, he flew on four space shuttle missions to Earth orbit. On his last flight, Dr. Jones led three spacewalks to install the centerpiece of the International Space Station, the American Destiny laboratory. He has spent fifty-three days working and living in space.

Articles By Tom Jones

• Skywalking: STS-68 preflight – getting ready for Space Radar Lab 2

  October 17th, 2015

  Throughout our training syllabus, we were guided through the frantic schedule of classes and simulator sessions by our training team. Without their expertise, we would never have been ready in time for our planned Aug. 18 launch date.

• Skywalking: Did UFOs visit STS-80 Columbia?

  October 10th, 2015

  During the week of April 11, 2011, the FBI released some of its investigation records on UFOs. The reports reflect the reality that people do see unexplained phenomena in the sky. Are these sightings evidence for intelligent life elsewhere, or some secret flight testing program?

• Skywalking: Four Hairballs head for space–STS-68

  September 20th, 2015

  Since July 1990, the 23 members of Astronaut Group XIII had studied and trained together for their ultimate challenge in space. They all wanted to be the first in their class to fly, but they knew it would take a couple of years to get every Hairball into orbit – flying a couple rookies, at most, with every shuttle mission.

• Skywalking: Food for thought… just before liftoff

  September 19th, 2015

  In a tradition dating back to Alan Shepard’s first U.S. spaceflight in 1961, astronauts are served a favorite meal before suiting up and heading to the launch pad – and into space.