NAME:  William F. Readdy (Mr)
       NASA Astronaut
 
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE:  Born January 24, 1952, in Quonset Point, Rhode Island,
but considers Mclean, Virginia to be his hometown.  His father, Capt. Francis
J. Readdy, USN (Ret.), resides in McLean.
 
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:  Grey hair; blue eyes; 6 feet; 190 pounds.
 
EDUCATION:  Graduated from McLean High School, McLean, Virginia, in 1970;
received a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering (with honors)
from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974.
 
MARITAL STATUS:  Married to Colleen Nevius.  Her parents, Capt. & Mrs. William
Nevius, USN (Ret.), reside in Camarillo, California.
 
CHILDREN:  Sean Nevius Readdy, June 4, 1992.
 
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS:  He enjoys sailing, racquet sports, soaring.
 
ORGANIZATIONS:  Member, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, American Institute
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Association of Space Explorers.
 
SPECIAL HONORS:  Recipient of the Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Expeditionary
medal, two National Defense Service Medals, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal,
and various unit and service awards.  Distinguished graduate, U.S. Naval Test
Pilot School.  U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Instructor of the Year (1984).
 
EXPERIENCE:  Readdy graduated from Annapolis in 1974, and was designated a
naval aviator in September 1975 at Beeville, Texas.  Following replacement
training in the A-6 Intruder at VA-42 Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, he
joined Attack Squadron 85 aboard USS FORRESTAL deployed to the North Atlantic
and Mediterranean from 1976 until 1980.  Upon completion of the U.S. Naval Test
Pilot School, Patuxent River, Maryland, he served as A-6 program manager and
project pilot on a variety of test programs while assigned to the Strike
Aircraft Test Directorate.  Following a short tour as an instructor pilot at
the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, he reported in 1984, to the USS Coral Sea, on
Caribbean and Mediterranean deployments as a strike operations officer, flying
A-6 and F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.  In October 1986 Readdy accepted a reserve
commission to join NASA as a research pilot.  He is affiliated with the U.S.
Naval Reserve in which he currently holds the rank of commander, and is
assigned to the  Naval Space Command.
 
He has logged over 5,000 flying hours in over 50 types of fixed wing and
helicopters and over 550 carrier landings.
 
NASA EXPERIENCE:  Readdy joined NASA's Johnson Space Center in October 1986 as
an aerospace engineer and instructor pilot at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas.
Prior to his selection for the astronaut program, he served as program manager
for the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.  Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA
in June 1987, Readdy became an astronaut in August 1988.  His technical
assignments to date include:  Orbiter sub-systems, Orbiter landing and roll out
simulations at NASA Ames; Orbiter project staff overseeing the construction of
OV-105 and various Orbiter modifications and program improvements; flight
software and hardware testing in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory
(SAIL); and presently as the astronaut office lead on training issues.
 
Readdy served as ascent/entry flight engineer and orbit pilot on the crew of
STS-42, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from the Kennedy
Space Center, Florida, on January 22, 1992.  Fifty five major experiments
conducted in the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 module were provided
by investigators from eleven countries, and represented a broad spectrum of
scientific disciplines.  During 128 orbits of the Earth, the STS-42 crew
accomplished the mission's primary objective of investigating the effects of
microgravity on materials processing and life sciences.  In this unique
laboratory in space, crew members worked around-the-clock in two shifts.
Experiments investigated the microgravity effects on the growth of protein and
semiconductor crystals.  Biological experiments on the effects of zero gravity
on plants, tissues, bacteria, insects and human vestibular response were also
conducted.  This eight-day mission culminated in a landing at Edwards Air Force
Base, California, on January 30, 1992.
 
With the completion of his first space flight, Readdy logged over 193 hours in
space.
 
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:  Readdy has been selected as pilot on STS-51, scheduled to
launch in February 1993.  The crew of five aboard the Shuttle Discovery will
deploy the U.S. Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) and will
also deploy the Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS) with NASA and German scientific
experiments aboard.  The SPAS will be retrieved prior to the end of the
nine-day mission.
 
JUNE 1992