Astronaut Paul Weitz Dies At 85; Veteran of Skylab and Shuttle Missions

NPR reports the death of NASA astronaut Paul Weitz, who spent nearly a month in orbit on the first manned Skylab mission in 1973 and flew a decade later as mission commander on the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Challenger. He was 85. From the report: Weitz died in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Monday; he had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a type of blood cancer. Weitz was born in Erie, Pa., and graduated from Penn State. He joined the Navy and became an aviator and test pilot, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He was chosen in NASA's fifth round of astronaut selection in 1966, as the agency was ramping up for the Apollo moon program. On his first space flight, he served as pilot on Skylab-2 (SL-2), along with Apollo 12 veteran Charles "Pete" Conrad, Jr., and Joseph Kerwin, also a rookie on SL-2. The mission to fix Skylab, which had suffered significant damage during the space station's launch, is still considered one of the most difficult and dangerous in the annals of spaceflight. The three astronauts had to conduct multiple space walks to repair the damaged craft, deploying a giant reflective parasol to act as a sunshade in place of a damaged thermal shield. Weitz logged two hours and 11 minutes in space walks and the crew of the mission established a new world record for time in space -- 672 hours, 49 minutes.

Comments

Space Pioneer

[rmdingler]

Sadly, there is a correlation to radiation exposure, though there are many other factors that increase risk.

Still, it's plausible he died doing his job many years hence.

Re: Space Pioneer

[backslashdot]

Someone dies at 85 and we are sure itâ(TM)s radiation?? How about not believing things until you study it scientifically? Nowadays a moron with no qualifications in science considers their own speculative opinion more valid than that of a doctor with a PhD in the field. Have other non astronauts got this condition? What is the prevalence of cancer in astronauts versus non astronauts of similar background? Itâ(TM)s crazy that people believe stuff without examining the situation rationally. Many people die of cancer when they are old. It happens, itâ(TM)s common.

Re:Space Pioneer

[Kjella]

Sadly, there is a correlation to radiation exposure, though there are many other factors that increase risk. Still, it's plausible he died doing his job many years hence.

When he became 85 years old and 22% of Americans (595k/2712k in 2015) die from cancer I'd say the primary cause was old age. Looking at age charts here in Norway 70% of the population (80% -> 10%) die between ages 75 and 95, it just seems to be the end of our natural lifespan. We're constantly reducing the number of "premature" deaths but the curve seems to take a sharper and sharper dive the higher we manage to push it and research on centennials hasn't given us any obvious insights on how to extend the life span of the general population.

Even ancient Roman emperors like Augustus and Tiberius lived to be 75+ years old, what killed people were the shitty conditions most of them lived under. Of course now with modern hygiene and medicine we're now all more pampered than Roman emperors and have gone from 0.3% to 80% of the population making it that far. So the average is massively improved but the maximum haven't moved much, even in ancient Rome there existed centennials. Probably as rare as 110+ year olds today, but still.

Re: Space Pioneer

[rmdingler]

Someone dies at 85 and we are sure itâ(TM)s radiation?? How about not believing things until you study it scientifically? Nowadays a moron with no qualifications in science considers their own speculative opinion more valid than that of a doctor with a PhD in the field.

I'm completely certain a poster with the intellect necessary to understand it may not be that the cancer he suffered was necessarily a direct result of his radiation exposure, is, also, intellectual enough to understand that it is plausible his mission in the 70's, an era of the pioneer of hominids in space, was rife with poorly understood effects of radiation on space-walkers.

Re:Space Pioneer

[rmdingler]

If you smoke your life-long days, you are x more likely to succumb to lung cancer. If you smoke and have the misfortune of living in a home with radon emissions due to uranium decay beneath your feet you have no inkling of, you are x + y more likely to succumb from lung cancer.

Adding a known negative probability to your outcome does not enhance one's odds of longevity.

Re: Space Pioneer

[Richard_at_work]

Perform an autopsy on a group of 65+ year olds and you can pretty much be sure to find some sort of cancer in most of them, with people over the age of 65 accounting for 60% of newly diagnosed malignant cancers and 70% of cancer related deaths in the US.

While it might have been his time in space which caused his cancer, the odds are vastly against him anyway with age being an extreme risk factor in terms of cancer.

Apollo and Space Shuttle!

[thrich81]

Interesting space program trivia: Weitz was one of only three astronauts who flew to space on both Apollo and Space Shuttle hardware (unless I missed someone in my quick research). The other two were John Young and Owen Garriot. Some others almost did, in the sense that they were in the astronaut corps during both 'eras', but didn't make a flight into space on both. Fred Haise flew on Apollo 13 and flew the Space Shuttle Enterprise in glide tests.

Re:Apollo and Space Shuttle!

[Anonymous Coward]

Vance Brand. ASTP, STS-5, STS-41B, STS-35.

Re:Space is deadly!

[Anonymous Coward]

Robert Guillaume AKA "Benson DuBois" AKA "Eli Vance" died today.

Re:Apollo and Space Shuttle! correction

[thrich81]

And I did miss one, as I am corrected by a knowledgeable AC; Vance Brand. ASTP, STS-5, STS-41B, STS-35.

Re:Hope he was saved

[Anonymous Coward]

A flat world.