About Jerry L. Ross
Jerry Lynn Ross (born January 20, 1948, Crown Point, Indiana) is a retired United States Air Force officer, engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. Ross is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the joint record holder for most spaceflights (a record he shares with Franklin Chang-Díaz). His papers, photographs, and many personal items are in the Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives at Purdue University. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame during ceremonies in May 2014. Ross is the author of Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer (Purdue University Press, 2013) with John Norberg. In March 2014, it was announced Spacewalker would be available in a French translation through the specialist aerospace publisher, Altipresse. Fellow astronaut, Chris Hadfield, describes Ross in his 2013 autobiography, An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, as "the embodiment of the trustworthy, loyal, courteous and brave astronaut archetype." Ross was assigned to STS-62-A, the first Shuttle mission to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the mission was canceled after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Ross also holds the record for most flights on a single Space Shuttle orbiter (Atlantis) at five.
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