James McDivitt (redirected from James Alton McDivitt)

McDivitt, James 

Born June 10, 1929, in Chicago, 111. Pilot and astronaut of the USA; brigadier general in the air force.

McDivitt graduated from the University of Michigan in 1959 and from the Experimental Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in 1960. In 1961 he graduated from an aerospace research pilot school. McDivitt served as a military test pilot. In 1962 he joined the group of astronauts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA. As commander he completed a space flight on the Gemini IV spacecraft from June 3 to 7, 1965, with E. White. The craft completed 62 orbits around the earth in 97 hours, 56 minutes, traveling approximately 2.6 million km. As commander he also completed a space flight on Apollo IX from Mar. 3 to 13, 1969, with D. Scott and R. Schweickart. The craft completed 151 orbits around the earth, traversing 6.6 million km in 241 hours 1 minute. During the test flight, docking procedures with the lunar module and independent flight were perfected, work was conducted on other systems of the craft, and various studies were carried out. McDivitt has flown in space a total of 338 hours 57 minutes on his two voyages.