James C. Adamson

James Craig Adamson is a former NASA astronaut and retired Colonel of the United States Army. Adamson completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army at United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1969. In 1977, he completed a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. As a military test pilot, Adamson has flown research aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, Princeton University, West Point, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and NASA Houston. During the Vietnam War, he flew in the IV Corps area and in Cambodia with the Air Cavalry as scout pilot, team lead, and air mission commander. Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1984, Adamson became qualified for mission assignment on Space Shuttle flights. In February 1988 Adamson was assigned to the flight crew of STS-28, the first flight of Space Shuttle Columbia following the reconstruction period. Following STS-28 Adamson once again returned to management. This time he was assigned to the Kennedy Space Center as Director of Shuttle Processing Analysis. The nine-day STS-43 mission aboard Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center on August 2, 1991. A veteran of two space flight missions, Adamson has logged over 334 hours in space.