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Edward G. Gibson (Ph.D.) is a former NASA
astronaut.

==Personal== 
Gibson was born November 8, 1936, in Buffalo, New
York and is married to the former Julie Anne Volk
of Township of Tonawanda, New York. He has four
children. His recreational interests include
distance running, swimming, photography, flying,
and motorcycling.

==Education==
Gibson graduated from Kenmore Senior High School,
Kenmore, New York, and received a bachelor of
science degree in Engineering from the University
of Rochester, New York, in June 1959, a master of
science degree in Engineering (Jet Propulsion
Option) from the California Institute of
Technology in June 1960, a doctorate in
Engineering with a minor in Physics from the
California Institute of Technology in June 1964,
an honorary doctorate of science from University
of Rochester (New York) in 1974, and an honorary
doctorate of science from Wagner College, Staten
Island, New York, in 1974.

==Organizations==
Gibson was elected a Fellow of the American
Astronautical Society; member of the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, and Theta Chi. He is a
member of the Seniors Track Club.

==Special honors==
Gibson was awarded a National Science Foundation
Fellowship and a R. C. Baker Fellowship at the
California Institute of Technology, and listed in
several Who's Who publications. He received the
Johnson Space Center Certificate of Commendation
(1970), the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
(presented by President Richard M. Nixon in 1974),
the City of New York Gold Medal (1974), the Robert
J. Collier Trophy for 1973 (1974), the Dr. Robert
H. Goddard Memorial Trophy for 1975 (1975), the
Federation Aeronautique Internationale’s De La
Vaulx Medal and V. M. Komarov Diploma for 1974
(1975), the American Astronautical Society’s
1975 Flight Achievement Award (1976), the AIAA
Haley Astronautics Award for 1975 (1976), a Senior
U.S. Scientist Award from the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation (1976), and a JSC Special
Achievement Award (1978).

==Experience==
While studying at Caltech, Gibson was a research
assistant in the field of jet propulsion and
classical physics. His technical publications are
in the fields of plasma physics and solar physics.
He was senior research scientist with the Applied
Research Laboratories of Philco Corporation at
Newport Beach, California, from June 1964 until
coming to NASA. While at Philco, he did research
on lasers and the optical breakdown of gases.
Subsequent to joining NASA in 1965, he wrote a
textbook in solar physics entitled The Quiet Sun.
Gibson’s training and data acquisition as
science-pilot on the last Skylab mission were in
the areas of solar physics, comet observations,
stellar observations, earth resources studies,
space medicine and physiology, and flight surgeon
activities.

He has logged more than 4,300 hours flying
time—2,270 hours in jet aircraft.

==NASA experience==
Dr. Gibson was selected as a scientist-astronaut
by NASA in June 1965. He completed a 53-week
course in flight training at Williams Air Force
Base, Arizona, and earned his Air Force wings.
Since then, he has flown helicopters and the T-38.

He served as a member of the astronaut support
crew and as a capcom for the Apollo 12 lunar
landing. He has also participated in the design
and testing of many elements of the Skylab space
station.

Dr. Gibson was the science-pilot of Skylab 4
(third and final manned visit to the Skylab space
station), launched November 16, 1973, and
concluded February 8, 1974. This was the longest
manned flight (84 days 1 hour 15 minutes) in
history of manned space exploration to date. Dr.
Gibson was accompanied on the record-setting
34.5-million-mile flight by Gerald P. Carr
(commander) and William R. Pogue (pilot). They
successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science
demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives,
and 13 student investigations during their 1,214
revolutions of the earth. They also acquired a
wide variety of earth resources observations data
using Skylab’s earth resources experiment
package camera and sensor array. Dr. Gibson was
the crewman primarily responsible for the 338
hours of Apollo Telescope Mount operation, which
made extensive observations of solar processes.

Until March 1978, Dr. Gibson and his Skylab-4
teammates held the world record for individual
time in space: 2,017 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds,
and Dr. Gibson logged 15 hours and 17 minutes in
three extra-vehicular activity|EVAs outside the
orbital workshop.

Gibson resigned from NASA in December 1974 to do
research on Skylab solar physics data as a senior
staff scientist with the Aerospace Corporation of
Los Angeles, California. Beginning in March 1976,
he served for one year as a consultant to ERNO
Raumfahrttechnik GmbH, in West Germany, on
Spacelab design under the sponsorship of a U.S.
Senior Scientist Award form the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation. In March 1977, Dr. Gibson
returned to the Astronaut Office Astronaut
candidate selection and training as Chief of the
Scientist-Astronaut Candidates.

In October 1990, Dr. Gibson began his own
consulting firm, Gibson International Corp. The
firm provides consulting services on program
management, market development and space
infrastructure design and operations.

==External links==
*
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/gibson-eg.ht
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NASA