Jon McBride was a NASA astronaut, test pilot, and space shuttle pilot who flew the first-ever mission with seven people on board.
- Died: August 7, 2024 (Who else died on August 7?)
- Details of death: Died of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer at the age of 80.
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Jon McBride’s legacy
Jon McBride was a West Virginia native who went to West Virginia University, then earned an Aeronautical Engineering degree from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. He enlisted in 1965 and earned his wings the following year, eventually flying 64 combat missions during the war in Vietnam.
McBride transitioned into being a test pilot, and in 1978, NASA recruited him as a potential astronaut. On Oct. 5, 1984, he flew a crew of seven (including himself) on the space shuttle Challenger, the first-ever time a crew that size had flown into space. It was also the first mission on which a woman from America performed a spacewalk.
He was set to fly to space again in 1986, but his mission was canceled in the wake of the Challenger disaster. McBride also helped further NASA’s mission by serving as its assistant administrator for Congressional Relations from 1987 to 1989.
McBride then retired and went into business. He was a regular at the Kennedy Space Center’s “Lunch with an Astronaut” program. He’s in the West Virginia Hall of Fame, and he retired with an array of commendations, including a Legion of Merit award, Defense Superior Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, NASA Space Flight Medal, and many others.
Notable quote
“So we lifted off, started accelerating, and it was just — wow. Simulators are good, but this is just something else, and you get up to and then it’s a whole different place in your life. Not that I hadn’t had 3Gs [gravity] before; I’d never had them through my chest for three minutes.”— NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, 2012
Tributes to Jon McBride
Full obituary: Island Cremations and Funeral Home
