Stephen Douglas Thorne (February 11, 1953 – May 24, 1986), ( Lt Cmdr,

USN The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

), was an American naval officer and

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, test pilot and a NASA

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 ...

candidate. He was born on February 11, 1953, in Frankfurt, West Germany, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1975. He was a Navy

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

from 1976 until he became a test pilot in 1981. He was accepted for NASA astronaut training in June 1985, but died in an airplane accident where he was a passenger on May 24, 1986. He was survived by his wife, Sue Lotz of

Staunton, Virginia Staunton ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 25,750. In Virginia, independent cities a ...

. His interests included baseball, running, reading, and general aviation.

Education

He graduated from T. L. Hanna High School, Anderson, South Carolina, in 1971 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in

Systems Engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

from the United States Naval Academy in 1975.

Naval career

Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, Thorne entered flight training and received his aviator wings in December 1976. Following training in the F-4 Phantom, he joined Fighter Squadron 21 (

VF-21 Fighter Squadron 21 (VF-21) ''Freelancers'' was an aviation unit of the United States Navy. Originally established in 1944 as VF-81 it was redesignated VF-13A in 1946, redesignated VF-131 in 1948, redesignated VF-64 in 1950 and redesignated VF- ...

) and deployed to the Western Pacific aboard the . After training at the

U.S. Naval Test Pilot School The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, provides instruction to experienced United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and foreign military experi ...

in 1981, Thorne spent the next two years at Strike Aircraft Test at the

Naval Air Test Center Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Sys ...

, Patuxent River, Maryland, flying mostly ordnance and weapons systems tests in the F-4 and A-7 Corsair II. He completed F-18 Hornet transition training in October 1984 and joined Strike Fighter Squadron 132 ( VFA-132) aboard until departing for NASA. He accumulated over 2,500 flying hours and 200 carrier landings in approximately 30 different types of aircraft.

Astronaut experience

Following an unsuccessful application for NASA Astronaut Group 10, Thorne was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1985 and in August, commenced a one-year training and evaluation program to qualify him for subsequent assignment as a pilot on future Space Shuttle flights. Thorne was killed in an aircraft accident of a stunt plane, in which he was a passenger, on May 24, 1986. The stunt plane crashed while performing maneuvers near Santa Fe, Texas, killing Thorne and NASA engineer James Simons. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.Notable Graves: Astronauts
Arlington National Cemetery

Organizations

* Member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. * Life member of the Naval Academy Alumni Association.

Awards

Received Navy Commendation Medal in January 1986.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Stephen D 1953 births 1986 deaths Accidental deaths in Texas American astronauts American aviators Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States Naval Academy alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1986