NASA Experience
Hilmers was selected a NASA astronaut in July 1980, and completed the initial training period in August 1981. In 1983 he was selected as a member of the launch-ready standby crew. His early NASA assignments have included work on rocket upper stages such as PAM, IUS, and Centaur, as well as Shuttle software verification at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). In addition, he was the Astronaut Office training coordinator, worked on various Department of Defense payloads, served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) at Mission Control for STS-41-D, STS-41-G, STS-51-A, STS-51-C and STS-51-D, worked Space Station issues for the Astronaut Office, and served as head of the Mission Development Branch within the Astronaut Office. In May 1985 he was named to the crew of STS-61-F, which was to deploy the Ulysses spacecraft on an interplanetary trajectory using a Centaur upper stage. This mission was to have flown in May 1986, but the Shuttle Centaur project was terminated in July 1986, and Hilmers then worked in the areas of ascent abort development, payload safety, and Shuttle on-board software. During 1987 he was involved in training for STS-26 and in flight software development.
A veteran of four space flights, he has logged over 493 hours in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-51-J (October 3–7, 1985), STS-26 (September 29 to October 3, 1988), STS-36 (February 28 to March 4, 1990), and STS-42 (January 22–30, 1992).
Hilmers retired from NASA in October 1992, and is currently a faculty member of the Medicine/Pediatrics Department of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Read more about this topic: David C. Hilmers
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