NASA Career
One of 35 candidates selected by NASA in January 1978 for the new Space Shuttle program, Walker became an astronaut in August 1979. Among his technical assignments, he served as Astronaut Office Safety Officer; technical assistant to the director of flight crew operations in 1981; a chase pilot on STS-1; software verification at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); mission support group leader for STS-5 and STS-6; Assistant to the Director, Flight Crew Operations; leader of the astronaut support team at Kennedy Space Center in 1985; Branch Chief, Space Station Design and Development; and Special Manager for Assembly, Space Station Project Office. From July 1993 to June 1994, Walker was Chief of the Station/Exploration Support Office, Flight Crew Operations Directorate, after which he chaired the JSC Safety Review Board.
A veteran of four spaceflights, Walker logged nearly 725 hours in space. He was the pilot on STS-51-A in 1984, and was the commander of STS-30 in 1989, STS-53 in 1992 and STS-69 in 1995.
Walker was in training to command STS-61-G, scheduled for a May 1986 launch when the Challenger disaster forced NASA to suspend all Shuttle flights. In 1989, while piloting a NASA T-38 to Washington, D.C. for ceremonies honoring the crew of STS-30, Walker came within 100 ft (30 m) of striking a Pan Am jetliner. While the near miss was later partially attributed to air traffic controller error, that encounter and other infractions of NASA flying rules caused him to be grounded from July to September 1990, costing him the command of STS-44.
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