Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, Dr. McNair completed a one-year training and evaluation period in August 1979, qualifying him for assignment as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews. He first flew as a mission specialist on STS-41-B, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on February 3, 1984. The crew included spacecraft commander Mr. Vance Brand, pilot Commander Robert L. Gibson, and fellow mission specialists Captain Bruce McCandless II and Lt. Col. Robert L. Stewart. The flight achieved the successful deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites and included flight testing of rendezvous sensors and computer programs. This mission marked the first flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) and the first use of the Canadian robotic arm, operated by Dr. McNair, to position EVA crew members around Challenger’s payload bay. The mission also included the German SPAS-01 satellite, acoustic levitation and chemical separation experiments, Cinema 360 motion picture filming, five Getaway Specials, and numerous mid-deck experiments, all of which Dr. McNair assumed primary responsibility. Challenger concluded the mission with the first-ever landing on the runway at Kennedy Space Center on February 11, 1984. With the completion of this flight, Dr. McNair logged a total of 191 hours in space. Dr. McNair was later assigned as a mission specialist on STS-51-L. Tragically, Dr. McNair lost his life on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The disaster also claimed the lives of spacecraft commander Mr. F.R. Scobee, pilot Commander M.J. Smith (U.S. Navy), mission specialists Lt. Col. E.S. Onizuka (U.S. Air Force) and Dr. J.A. Resnik, and civilian payload specialists Mr. G.B. Jarvis and Mrs. S.C. McAuliffe. Courtesy of NASA.