May 09

Born in Longmont, Colorado, Brand earned a degree in industrial engineering before joining the U.S. Navy as a pilot. He became a test pilot and logged thousands of flight hours before being selected by NASA in 1966. Brand served as command module pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission. He later commanded Space Shuttle missions STS-5, STS-41-B, and STS-35 between 1982 and 1990. Under his leadership, STS-5 successfully deployed commercial satellites into orbit. Over his career, he logged more than 746 hours in space. After retiring from NASA in 1993, Brand remained active in aerospace consulting and education.