Lachlan "Mac" Macleay (born June 13, 1931) is a retired

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and a former USAF

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

. Although he trained for the USAF

Manned Orbital Laboratory The Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) was part of the United States Air Force (USAF) human spaceflight program in the 1960s. The project was developed from early USAF concepts of crewed space stations as reconnaissance satellites, and was a succ ...

(MOL), the program was cancelled before any of the MOL crews reached space. Macleay was born in

Saint Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

and graduated in 1954 from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. Although a USNA graduate, he chose to begin his career in the United States Air Force. In 1970, he earned a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. Macleay was a flight instructor in the

F-86D The North American F-86D/K/L Sabre (initially known as the YF-95 and widely known informally as the "Sabre Dog",) was an American transonic jet fighter aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force in the late 1940s, it was an interceptor ...

Moody Air Force Base Moody Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation near Valdosta, Georgia. Geography The base is in northeastern Lowndes County, Georgia, with the eastern border of the base following the Lanier County line. Georgia State Rout ...

in Georgia. He graduated from the

U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test flight officer, navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new ...

in Class 60A, Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS) Class IV, and MOL. In 1965, Macleay was selected as one of the first astronauts to the Air Force's classified Manned Orbital Laboratory. The MOL program, canceled in 1969 before sending any astronauts into space, was to man a military space station with Air Force astronauts using a modified

Gemini spacecraft Project Gemini () was NASA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, Gemini started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Gemini spacecraft carried a two-astronaut crew. Ten Gemini crews and 16 individual ...

. Macleay continued flying for the Air Force and served a combat tour in Southeast Asia during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

as commander of the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron (TASS) at

Nakhon Phanom Nakhon Phanom ( th, นครพนม, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in northeastern Thailand, capital of Nakhon Phanom Province. The town covers ''tambons'' Nai Mueang and Nong Saeng and parts of ''tambons'' At Samat and Nong Yat, all in M ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. The 23d TASS, flying the

OV-10 Bronco The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forw ...

under the callsign Nail, served as

forward air control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

lers directing air strikes against enemy troops. Macleay retired from the Air Force on May 1, 1978, and joined

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting p ...

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

where he worked on a series of missile systems. He currently lives in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. The history of the MOL program was presented in the Public Television series NOVA episode called ''Astrospies'' which aired February 12, 2008. Several of the MOL astronauts, including Lachlan Macleay, were interviewed for this documentary.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Lachlan Macleay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macleay, Lachlan 1931 births Living people American astronauts Marshall School of Business alumni United States Air Force officers U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni American test pilots United States Naval Academy alumni