In addition to Fred Haise, we proudly celebrate three other outstanding alumni who became NASA astronauts.

Owen K. Garriott

OU 1953 B.S. in electrical engineering

Before amassing a collection of awards, medals and trophies for his space flights and scientific achievements, the late Owen Garriott was a Sooner pursuing a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. He continued to build his skills as a U.S. Navy electronics officer and became an electrical engineering professor at Stanford.

NASA selected Garriott as one of its first six Scientist-Astronauts. Following extensive flight training, they assigned him to his first mission aboard the Apollo command and service module on the Saturn IB rocket. 

During three spacewalks on this mission, Garriott used his own body to track physiological and biomedical metrics, gaining insight about how humans respond to reduced gravity. His time aboard Spacelab set a new record for length of time in orbit—almost 60 days. Garriott also undertook the first amateur radio operations from space, reaching out to ham radio operators around the world.

Though a pioneer in space, Garriott’s unique influence and generosity can also be seen closer to home, especially in Enid, Okla., where he co-founded the beloved Leonardo’s Children’s Museum.

Shannon W. Lucid

OU 1963 B.S., 1970 M.S. and 1973 Ph.D. in chemistry and biochemistry

Following four space shuttle flights between 1985 and 1993, Shannon Lucid joined an international cohort of research scientists assigned to the collaborative Shuttle-Mir program on a Russian space station, where she conducted experiments.

Though the assignment’s year-long training was demanding—and conducted in Russian—Lucid wasn’t intimidated. The biochemist viewed the months-long Mir mission as a unique opportunity to merge her passions for flight and science, she told Scientific American.

“I received my private pilot’s license when I was 20 years old and have been flying ever since … For a scientist who loves flying, what could be more exciting than working in a laboratory that hurtles around the earth at 17,000 miles per hour?”

Shortly after her return to Earth, President Bill Clinton awarded Lucid the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. She held multiple leadership positions at NASA until her 2012 retirement.

Fred W. Leslie

OU 1977 M.S. in meteorology and 1979 Ph.D. in engineering

For the average person, tracking down tornadoes as a storm chaser might be a bit too thrilling. But Fred Leslie’s job with the National Severe Storms Laboratory was just one early example of pursuing scientific knowledge through atmospheric activity. 

Leslie flew aboard NASA’s Columbia to the Spacelab module in 1995 for 16 days, making him one of the first meteorologists to fly in space. 

Leslie’s research experiments flew on Spacelab3 and NASA’s KC-135 aircraft.

As a skydiver with thousands of jumps behind him, it’s clear Leslie learned more than most about gravity—even his work as a NASA research scientist often focused on the nuances of microgravity, trajectories and atmospheric phenomena.

Leslie’s career culminated with his work as an aerospace engineer at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where he focused on global atmospheric modeling and turbulence.

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