Joe Frank Edwards Jr. (born February 3, 1958), ( 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 ...

, Ret.), is an American aerospace engineer,former naval officer,

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 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 ...

Early life and education

Edwards was born February 3, 1958, in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, but considers both Lineville, and Roanoke Alabama to be his hometowns. He graduated from Lineville High School in 1976 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1980. In 1994, he received a Master of Science degree in Aviation Systems from University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Career

Edwards was designated a

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

in February 1982. He was assigned to Fighter Squadron 143 (

VF-143 Fighter Squadron 143 or VF-143 was an aviation unit of the United States Navy originally established as a Naval Reserve squadron VF-821 on 20 July 1950 it was redesignated VF-143 on 4 February 1953 and disestablished on 1 April 1958. Operational h ...

) in 1983, after completion of F-14 Tomcat training, and flew fighter escort and reconnaissance

combat mission ''Combat Mission'' is the name of a successful series of computer wargames simulating tactical battles. The series has progressed through two distinct game engines. The original game engine, referred to as 'CMx1' by the developer, Battlefront.co ...

s over Lebanon in 1983. He graduated from the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) in 1984 and from

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 1986. He subsequently worked as project flight test officer and pilot for F-14A (PLUS) and

F-14D The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

Full Scale Development. He flew the first Navy flight of the F-14D and a high

angle of attack In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is m ...

/departure from controlled flight test program for the F-14 airframe/F110 engine integration. He served as Operations and Maintenance Officer in Fighter Squadron 142 ( VF-142) from 1989 to 1992. He worked as Operations Officer in the Operations Directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C. from 1992 to 1994. He has flown 4,000 hours in over 25 different aircraft and logged over 650 carrier-arrested landings. On November 13, 1991, while serving as maintenance officer of VF-142, he was flying in the Persian Gulf at

Mach Mach may refer to Mach number, the speed of sound in local conditions. It may also refer to: Computing * Mach (kernel), an operating systems kernel technology * ATI Mach, a 2D GPU chip by ATI * GNU Mach, the microkernel upon which GNU Hurd is bas ...

0.9 at when the radome separated from his airplane, impacted, and destroyed his canopy. With a blinded eye, collapsed lung, broken arm and no communications or flight instruments, he recovered his "convertible" Tomcat with his Radar Intercept Officer

LCDR LCDR may refer to: * The London, Chatham and Dover Railway * The rank of lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. ...

Scott Grundmeier hunkered down in the rear cockpit and landed aboard the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for this superior display of airmanship under grave circumstances.

NASA career

Selected as an astronaut by NASA in December 1994, Edwards reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in March 1995. He worked on technical issues for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station in the Safety Department of the Astronaut Office. He also served as Technical Assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations Directorate, NASA Director of Operations (DOR), Russia, and Astronaut

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

representative in Mission Control for Shuttle ascent and entry. Edwards flew on STS-89 (January 22–31, 1998), the eighth Shuttle- Mir docking mission, during which the crew transferred more than of scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from to Mir. In the fifth and last exchange of a U.S. astronaut, STS-89 delivered Andy Thomas to Mir and returned with David Wolf. Mission duration was 8 days, 19 hours and 47 seconds, traveling 3.6 million miles (5.8 million km) in 138 orbits of the Earth.

Awards and memberships

Edwards is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots,

Association of Naval Aviation Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

, and the U.S. Naval Institute. He has received the

Defense Superior Service Medal The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant ...

, Distinguished Flying Cross, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Daedalian Superior Airmanship Award 1992, Fighter

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

143 Fighter Pilot of the Year, 1984, 1985, Fighter Squadron 142 Fighter Pilot of the Year, 1990, 1991, 1992. Carrier Air Wing 7 Pilot of the Year, 1985, 1990, 1991.

Personal life

Edwards retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy on April 30, 2000. He is married to the former Janet Leigh Ragan of Leonardtown, Maryland. His parents, Joe Frank and Jane McMurray Edwards, are deceased and formerly resided in Roanoke, Alabama.

References

External links

Space facts biography of Joe F. Edwards Jr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Joe Frank Jr. 1958 births Living people 1998 in spaceflight United States Navy astronauts Military personnel from Richmond, Virginia People from Lineville, Alabama United States Naval Academy alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni University of Tennessee alumni American aerospace engineers United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators Aviators from Virginia American test pilots Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Engineers from Virginia Space Shuttle program astronauts Mir crew members