Robert Franklyn "Bob" Overmyer was an American test pilot, naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, physicist, United States Marine Corps officer, and USAF/NASA astronaut. Overmyer was selected by the Air Force as an astronaut for its Manned Orbiting Laboratory in 1966. Upon cancellation of the program in 1969, he became a NASA astronaut and served support crew duties for the Apollo program, Skylab program, and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. In 1976, he was assigned to the Space Shuttle program and flew as pilot on STS-5 in 1982 and as commander on STS-51-B in 1985. He was selected as a lead investigator into the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, retiring from NASA that same year. A decade later, Overmyer died while testing the Cirrus VK-30 homebuilt aircraft.
Overmyer in his spacesuit in 1982
Overmyer on the flight deck of Space Shuttle Columbia during the STS-5 mission
Overmyer, second from left, with fellow crew members of STS-51-B
Overmyer aiming a camera out of an overhead window of Space Shuttle Challenger during the STS-51-B mission
Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
A 1973 artist's conception of the docking of the two spacecraft
Back Row: Stafford, Leonov Front Row: Slayton, Brand, KubasovApollo program← Apollo 17 Soyuz programme← Soyuz 18Soyuz 20 →
U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin (seated) sign an agreement in Moscow paving the way for the Apollo–Soyuz mission, May 1972.
Left to right: Slayton, Brand, Stafford