Son Of Former NASA Director Was 52

The desire for humans to travel into space was instilled in G. David Low from an early age. The son of former NASA director George Low -- who first suggested to President Kennedy in 1960 it was possible for an astronaut to walk on the moon by decade's end -- G. David Low would go on to spend 12 years as an astronaut, flying onboard three shuttle missions.

The younger Low did a lot of living in the short 52 years he spent on Earth, and orbiting above it... but in the end, Low succumbed to that all-too earthbound of ills. Low passed away March 15, following a bout with colon cancer.

In 1984, at age 28, G. David Low was the youngest in his class of newly-hired NASA astronauts. He came to the space agency from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where he worked from 1980 through '84 on systems integration for several space probes, including Galileo. 

Low first flew into space onboard Columbia for STS-32 in 1990... once again, the youngest member of that crew. He was also the skinniest... which made him the prime candidate to participate in a vacuum-chamber experiment, designed to reduce the dizziness astronauts often experience upon returning to Earth after spending extended time in zero-g.

"I guess I'll be very, very happy if we can get the wheels stopped and I haven't screwed anything up," Low told reporters prior to his first mission. "That would be a tremendous relief, to go through 10 days and know that I did it right."

He did it right... in fact, Low would go on to accumulate over 714 hours in space, circling Earth more than 540 times, reports The Washington Post. Low served as payload commander on his last trip into orbit, onboard Endeavour for STS-57. The flight included a nearly six-hour spacewalk, performed by Low and fellow astronaut Peter "Jeff" Wisoff.

When he wasn't working in space, Low was never very far from those who were. He served as the CAPCOM for three shuttle missions, including the first flight after the January 1986 loss of the space shuttle Challenger.

Low continued his work at NASA for three years after his last shuttle mission, including time spent converting NASA's Freedom space station project into the global effort that would become the International Space Station.

In 1996, Low left the space agency for a new job in the private sector, with fledgling commercial space provider Orbital Sciences Corp. He was named senior vice president, and program manager for Orbital's COTS program, in 2006.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.orbital.com