The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

GARRIOTT, OWEN K. (1930–2019).

Owen K. Garriott was born on November 22, 1930, in Enid, Oklahoma. After graduating from Enid High School, he pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, which he earned from the University of Oklahoma in 1953.

Garriott served in the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1956 as an electronics officer. He received a master of science degree in 1957 from Stanford University and a doctorate from that institution in 1960. After teaching electronics and physics at Stanford, he was selected as a scientist-astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in June 1965.

Garriott's first space flight was on Skylab 3 from July 28 to September 25, 1973. On this truly scientific mission he and his two crew mates spent 1,427 hours in space conducting major experiments in science and medicine. Garriott spent thirteen hours and forty-three minutes in three separate space walks outside the Skylab.

On November 28, 1983, he made his second flight into space aboard the space shuttle, STS-9, which included the first flight of the international science station called Spacelab 1. Again, science was the main purpose of this mission, which carried the first international shuttle crew and the first payload specialists. He also conducted the first manned amateur radio operations in space on this flight. Garriott resigned from NASA in 1986 to go into private business. He died on April 15, 2019.

Bill Moore