George David Low was an American aerospace executive and a NASA astronaut. He was born in 1956 to Dr. George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. With undergraduate degrees in physics and mechanical engineering and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics, he worked in the JPL at the California Institute of Technology in the early 80's, before being picked as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1984. In addition to holding some technical assignments, he logged more than 700 hours in space (including stints on the Columbia, the Atlantis and the Endeavour), before he left NASA in 1996 to pursue a career in the private sector.
STS-32 was the thirty-third mission of the shuttle program and ninth of Columbia. It was the first use of Launch Pad 39A and also marked the first use of the Mobile Launcher Platform No. 3 (MLP-3) in the shuttle program. This was the longest flight of the shuttle program lasting nearly 11 days. Its primary missions were to deploy a defence 10 satellite and retrieved NASAs Long Duration Exposure Facility.
Low Earth OrbitThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.