Career with NASA

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, he first flew as a mission specialist on STS 41-B, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The flight accomplished the proper shuttle deployment of two Hughes 376 communication satellites, as well as the flight-testing of rendezvous sensors and computer programs. This mission marked the first flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit and the first use of the Canadian arm (operated by McNair) to position EVA crewman around Challenger’s payload bay. Included were the German SPAS-01 Satellite, acoustic levitation and chemical separation experiments, the Cinema 360 motion picture filming, five Gateway Specials, and numerous mid-deck experiments – all of which Dr. McNair assumed primary responsibility. With the completion of this flight, he logged a total of 191 hours in space.