Joseph Peter Kerwin, M.D. is an American physician and former NASA astronaut, who served as Science Pilot for the Skylab 2 mission from May 25–June 22, 1973. He was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training.
Skylab 2 (also known as SL-2 or SLM-1) was the first crewed mission to the first US orbital space station Skylab. The mission began on May 25, 1973, 13:00:00 UTC with the launch of a three-person crew. Crew members were the Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr., Science Pilot Joseph P. Kerwin and Pilot Paul J. Weitz. During their 26-day stay on the station, crew performed station repairs and conducted scientific, medical experiments, gathered solar and Earth science data. The mission ended successfully with the splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on June 22, 1973, 13:49:48 UTC.
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.