Jon McBride - NASA Career

NASA Career

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, McBride became an astronaut in August 1979. His NASA assignments have included lead chase pilot for the maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Columbia, software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for STS-5, STS-6, and STS-7, Flight Data File (FDF) Manager, and orbital rendezvous procedures development.

McBride was pilot of STS-41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 5, 1984, aboard the Orbiter Challenger. This was the first crew of seven. During their eight day mission, crew members deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, conducted scientific observations of the earth with the OSTA-3 pallet and Large Format Camera, and demonstrated potential satellite refueling with an EVA and associated hydrazine transfer. Mission duration was 197 hours and concluded with a landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on October 13, 1984.

McBride was scheduled to fly next in March 1986, as the commander of STS-61-E crew. This flight was one of several deferred by NASA in the wake of the Challenger accident in January 1986.

On July 30, 1987, McBride was assigned to NASA Headquarters to serve as Assistant Administrator for Congressional Relations, with responsibility for NASA's relationship with the United States Congress, and for providing coordination and direction to all Headquarters and Field Center communications with Congressional support organizations. He held this post from September 1987 through March 1989. In 1988, McBride was named to command the crew of the STS-35 (ASTRO-1) mission, scheduled for launch in March 1990, but chose to retire from NASA instead.

On September 23, 2011 the NASA Independent Verification and Validation Facility (IV&V) in Fairmont, West Virginia dedicated a NASA software laboratory to the West Virginia native Jon McBride. The laboratory's official name is the Jon McBride Software Testing and Research Laboratory, or JSTAR. JSTAR is NASA IV&V’s environment for adaptable testing and simulation, designed to enhance tools and methods used to critically assess mission and safety critical software across NASA’s missions. The lab supports end to end testing on mission flight software through the application of analytical rigor to reduce the threat of software-related mission failure.

In September 2012, at the JSTAR one year celebration, NASA's IV&V Program launched the JSTAR website. The JSTAR website highlights all the work being performed under the JSTAR umbrella at NASA's IV&V facility.