Edward George Gibson (born November 8, 1936) is a former NASA astronaut, pilot, engineer, and physicist.
He served on the support crew of Apollo 12, the second Moon landing mission, before working on the development of the Skylab space station.
While studying at Caltech, Gibson was a research assistant in the field of jet propulsion and classical physics.
[13] They successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives, and 13 student investigations during their 1,214 revolutions of the Earth.
[15] Dr. Gibson was the crewman primarily responsible for the 338 hours of Apollo Telescope Mount operation, which made extensive observations of solar processes.
Gibson resigned from NASA in December 1974 to do research on Skylab solar physics data as a senior staff scientist with the Aerospace Corporation of Los Angeles, California.
Beginning in March 1976, he served for one year as a consultant to ERNO Raumfahrttechnik GmbH, in West Germany, on Spacelab design under the sponsorship of a U.S. Senior Scientist Award form the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
The firm provides consulting services on program management, market development and space infrastructure design and operations.
[6] He has performed a significant amount of speaking and writing, and published a text book in solar physics, two novels, Reach (1989)[20] and In the Wrong Hands (1992),[21] and edited The Greatest Adventure, a 1994 compilation of stories and pictures on space missions from many astronauts and cosmonauts around the world.
Scientist Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which provided funds to research in West Germany for a year.
[6] Gibson has also been presented with honorary doctorates of science from the University of Rochester and Wagner College in New York City, both in 1974.
[6] The three Skylab astronaut crews were awarded the 1973 Robert J. Collier Trophy "For proving beyond question the value of man in future explorations of space and the production of data of benefit to all the people on Earth.
[29][30] Federation Aeronautique Internationale awarded the Skylab 4 crew the De La Vaulx Medal and V. M. Komarov Diploma for 1974.
[31] Carr accepted the 1975 Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy from President Ford, awarded to the Skylab astronauts.