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James D. A. "Ox" van Hoften is a former NASA
Astronaut.

==Personal Data==
van Hoften was born June 11, 1944, in Fresno,
California.  He considers Burlingame, California,
to be his hometown.  James is married with three
children. He enjoys skiing, playing American
handball|handball and racquetball, and jogging.

==Education== 
Graduated from Mills High School, Millbrae,
California|Millbrae, California, in 1962; received
a bachelor of science degree in Civil Engineering
from the University of California, Berkeley, in
1966; and a master of science degree in Hydraulic
engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy|Doctorate
of Philosophy in Hydraulic Engineering from
Colorado State University in 1968 and 1976,
respectively.

==Organizations==
Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics (AIAA), Sigma Xi, Chi Epsilon,
and Pi Kappa Alpha.

==Special Honors== 
*Meritorious Service Medal
*2 Navy Air Medals
*National Defense Service Medal
*Vietnam Service Medal
*2 NASA Space Flight Medals.

==Experience==
From 1969 to 1974, van Hoften was a pilot in the
United States Navy. He received flight training at
Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola, Florida, and
completed jet pilot training at Beeville, Texas,
in November 1970. He was then assigned to the
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar|Naval Air
Station, Miramar, California, to fly F-4 Phantom
II|F-4 Phantoms, and subsequently to VF-121
Replacement Air Group. As a pilot with VF-154
assigned to the carrier|aircraft carrier USS
Ranger (CVA-61)|USS Ranger in 1972, van Hoften
participated in two cruises to Southeast Asia
where he flew approximately 60 combat missions. He
resumed his academic studies in 1974 and completed
a Thesis|dissertation on the interaction of waves
and turbulent channel flow for his Doctor of
Philosophy|doctorate. In September 1976, he
accepted an assistant professorship of civil
engineering at the University of Houston, and
until his selection as an astronaut candidate,
taught fluid mechanics and conducted research on
biomedical fluid flows concerning flows in
artificial internal organs and valves. Dr. van
Hoften has published a number of papers on
turbulence, waves, and cardiovascular flows. From
1977 until 1980 he flew F4N's with United States
Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve Fighter Squadron 201 at
NAS Dallas and then three years as a member of the
Texas Air National Guard with the 147th Fighter
Interceptor Group as a pilot in the F4C.

He has logged 3,300 hours flying time, the
majority in jet aircraft.

==NASA Experience==
Dr. van Hoften was selected as an astronaut
candidate by NASA in January 1978. He completed a
1-year training and evaluation period in August
1979.

From 1979 through the first flight, STS-1, van
Hoften supported the Shuttle|Space Shuttle entry
and on-orbit guidance, navigation and
Flight_controls|flight control testing at the
Flight Systems Laboratory at Downey, California.
Subsequently he was lead of the Astronaut Support
Team at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, responsible
for the Space Shuttle turn-around testing and
flight preparations. He served as a mission
specialist on STS-41C in 1984, and STS-51I in
1985. Dr. Van Hoften has logged a total 338 hours
in space, including 22 hours of Extra-vehicular
activity|EVA flight time.

==Post-NASA==
Dr. van Hoften joined the Bechtel Corporation in
1986 and for 6 years managed Bechtel's engineering
and construction business for the defense and
space markets. He is currently Senior Vice
President and a partner in Bechtel and is
presently located in Hong Kong as project manager
for the New Hong Kong Airport and Related
Infrastructure program.

==Space Flight Experience==
STS-41C Space Shuttle Challenger|Challenger (April
6-13, 1984) was launched from the John F. Kennedy
Space Center|Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and
returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base,
California. During the 7-day mission the crew
successfully deployed the Long Duration Exposure
Facility (LDEF); retrieved the ailing Solar
Maximum Satellite, repaired it on-board the
orbiting Challenger and replaced it in orbit,
using the robot arm called the Remote Manipulator
System (RMS). The mission also included flight
testing of Manned Maneuvering Units (MMU's) in two
extravehicular activities (EVA's); operation of
the Cinema 360 and IMAX Camera Systems, as well as
a Bee Hive Honeycomb Structures student
experiment. The mission was accomplished in 107
Earth orbits in 167 hours, 40 minutes, 7 seconds.

STS-51I Space Shuttle Discovery|Discovery (August
27 to September 3, 1985) launched from the Kennedy
Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at
Edwards Air Force Base, California. During this
mission the crew successfully deployed three
communications satellites, the Navy's Syncom IV-4,
Australian Aussat, and American Satellite
Company's ASC-1. The crew also performed the
successful salvage of the ailing Navy Syncom IV-3
satellite. These tasks included two Extravehicular
Activities (EVA's) in which Dr. van Hoften
attached to the Remote Manipulator System (RMS)
performed the first manual grapple and manual
deployment of a satellite in orbit. The mission
also included the Physical Vapor Transport of
Organic Solids (PVTOS), the second material
processing experiment to be flown aboard a Shuttle
for 3M. The mission was accomplished in 112 orbits
of the Earth in 171 hours, 17 minutes, 42 seconds.

This information is current as of December 1993.

Source:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/vanhoften-jd
a.html NASA astronaut biography page