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Thomas Dale Akers (born May 20, 1951 in Saint
Louis, Missouri|St. Louis, Missouri, USA) is a
former astronaut in the United States Space
Shuttle program.


He graduated from the University of Missouri -
Rolla with Bachelor of Science|B.S. and Master's
degree|M.S. degrees in Applied Mathematics in 1973
and 1975, respectively.

In 1979, he entered the Air Force, and was
selected for the astronaut program in 1987.

Akers is a veteran of four shuttle flights in
which he spent over 800 hours in orbit, including
more than 29 hours of extra-vehicular activity
(EVA) experience. In each of his flights, his role
was as a mission specialist, usually as a payload
specialist.

His first space flight was in 1990 on STS-41, the
11th flight of shuttle Space Shuttle
Discovery|Discovery. He was instrumental in
deploying the European Space Agency satellite
Ulysses (spacecraft)|Ulysses, a solar-exploration
craft, as well as tending several secondary
payloads and experiments.

His next mission was in 1992 on STS-49, the maiden
flight of shuttle Space Shuttle
Endeavour|Endeavour. A primary goal of that
mission was to capture and repair the
non-functional Intelsat VI-F3 satellite. The first
two attempts failed; Akers joined the third
attempt which was successful. This marks the first
three-person EVA in human history and was also the
longest EVA (8 hours, 29 minutes) ever conducted
to that time. As of January, 2004, it is now the
second longest EVA, and is still the only instance
of a three-person EVA.

On Akers' third mission in 1993 on STS-61, the 5th
flight of Endeavour, he was one of four mission
specialists who repaired and upgraded the Hubble
Space Telescope on its first servicing mission.
Akers spent just under 13.5 hours outside the
Endeavour in two EVAs.  

His last mission was in 1996 on STS-79, the 17th
flight of
shuttle Space Shuttle Atlantis|Atlantis. This was
the fourth
shuttle flight to rendezvous with the Russian
space station Mir and the first to exchange US
astronauts with Mir, returning Shannon Lucid to
earth and leaving John Blaha.

Akers retired from NASA in 1997 and the Air Force
in 1999 at the rank of Colonel, taking a position
as instructor of Mathematics at the University of
Missouri - Rolla, Missouri|Rolla.

== External links ==
*http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/akers.html
Astronaut bio: T. Akers 6/00

*http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/
akers_thomas.htm Astronaut biography: Thomas Akers

*http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-79.h
tm Spaceflight mission report: STS-41

*http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-79.h
tm Spaceflight mission report: STS-49

*http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-79.h
tm Spaceflight mission report: STS-61

*http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-79.h
tm Spaceflight mission report: STS-79