About John Casper
John Howard Casper is a former American astronaut and retired United States Air Force pilot. Columbia flew at a record low altitude of 195 km (105 nautical miles) to gather data on spacecraft glow and erosion caused by atomic oxygen and nitrogen molecules. Casper then became operations officer and later commander of the 6513th Test Squadron, where he conducted flight test programs to evaluate and develop tactical aircraft weapons systems. Selected by NASA in May 1984, Casper became an astronaut in June 1985.
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