William Arthur Pailes | |
---|---|
USAF Astronaut | |
Nationality | American |
Status | Retired |
Born |
Hackensack, New Jersey |
June 26, 1952
Other occupation
|
Computer Scientist |
Rank | Colonel, USAF Retired |
Time in space
|
4d 01h 44 m |
Selection | 1982 USAF Group |
Missions | STS-51-J |
Mission insignia
|
William Arthur Pailes (Colonel, USAF) (born June 26, 1952) was a USAF astronaut in the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Program during the mid-1980s. He served as a Payload Specialist on STS-51-J Atlantis (October 3–7, 1985).
Pailes was born in Hackensack, New Jersey, but considers Kinnelon, New Jersey, to be his hometown. He is married and is a former deacon and treasurer of his church in El Segundo, California. He now teaches the AFJROTC Program at Temple High School in Temple, TX. He is the Senior Aerospace Science Instructor.
Pailes graduated from Kinnelon High School in Kinnelon, New Jersey in 1970. He then received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at the USAF Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado four years later.
From 1974 to 1975 he attended pilot training at the Williams Air Force Base, Arizona where he trained as a HC-130 rescue pilot in the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. In 1978, he attended the Squadron Officer School.
Pailes received his Master of Science degree in Computer Science at Texas A&M University in 1981.
He was an HC-130 pilot in Air Force Rescue from December 1975 to July 1980 in McClellan Air Force Base, California and Royal Air Force Base, Woodbridge, England. He was then Manager, mini-computer operating systems software development, from January 1982 to December 1982 at Headquarters Military Airlift Command, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. He was a Manned Spaceflight Engineer from January 1983 to 1990s at USAF Manned Spaceflight Engineering Program, Los Angeles Air Force Station, California.