NAME:  David M. Walker (Captain, USN)
       NASA Astronaut
 
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE:  Born May 20, 1944, in Columbus, Georgia, but considers
Eustis, Florida, to be his hometown.  His mother, Mrs. Walter Rundle, resides
there.
 
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:  Red hair; blue eyes; 5 feet 10 inches; 165 pounds.
 
EDUCATION:  Graduated from Eustis High School, Eustis, Florida, in 1962;
received a bachelor of science degree from the United States Naval Academy in
1966.
 
MARITAL STATUS:  Single.
 
CHILDREN:  Michael, March 11, 1969; Matt, September 15, 1971.
 
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS:  He enjoys reading, music and a variety of sports.
 
SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Distinguished
Flying Cross, six Navy Air Medals, the Battle Efficiency Ribbon, the Armed
Forces Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the NASA Space
Flight Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Vietnam Service Medal, and
the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
 
ORGANIZATIONS:  Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots,
Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Naval
Institute, the Naval Academy Alumni Association, and the Museum of Naval
Aviation Foundation.
 
EXPERIENCE:  Walker was graduated from Annapolis and subsequently received
flight training from the Naval Aviation Training Command at bases in Florida,
Mississippi, and Texas.  He was designated a naval aviator in December 1967 and
proceeded to Naval Air Station Miramar, California, for assignment F-4 Phantoms
aboard the carriers USS Enterprise and USS America.  From December 1970 to
1971, he attended the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force
Base, California, and was subsequently assigned in January 1972 as an
experimental and engineering test pilot in the flight test division at the
Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland.  While there, he participated
in the Navy's preliminary evaluation and Board of Inspection and Survey trials
of the F-14 Tomcat and tested a leading edge slat modification to the F-4
Phantom.  He then attended the U.S. Navy Safety Officer School at Monterey,
California, and completed replacement pilot training in the F-14 Tomcat at
Naval Air Station Miramar, California.  In 1975, Walker was assigned to Fighter
Squadron 142, stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, as a fighter
pilot and was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea twice aboard the USS America.
 
He has logged more than 5,500 hours flying time -- 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.
 
NASA EXPERIENCE:  Selected by NASA in January 1978, Walker became an astronaut
in August 1979.  His technical assignments since then include:  Astronaut
Office Safety Officer; Deputy Chief of Aircraft Operations ; STS-1 chase pilot;
software verification at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL);
mission support group leader for STS-5 and 6, Assistant to the Director, Flight
Crew Operations; leader of the astronaut support crew at Kennedy Space Center;
and Branch Chief, Space Station Design and Development; and Special Manager for
Assembly, Space Station Project Office.  A veteran of two space flights, Walker
was the pilot on STS 51-A in 1984, and was the mission commander of STS-30 in
1989.
 
Walker was the pilot on the crew of STS 51-A which launched from Kennedy Space
Center, Florida, on November 8, 1984.  This was the second flight of the
Orbiter Discovery.  During the mission the crew deployed two satellites,
Canada's Anik D-2 (Telesat H) and Hughes' LEASAT-1 (Syncom IV-1), and operated
the Radiation Monitoring Equipment (RME) device, and the 3M Company's Diffusive
Mixing of Organic Solutions (DMOS) experiment.  In the first space salvage
mission in history the crew also retrieved for return to Earth the Palapa B-2
and Westar VI satellites.  STS 51-A completed 127 orbits of the Earth before
landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 16, 1984.
 
As commander of STS-30, Walker and his crew launched from Kennedy Space Center,
Florida, on May 4, 1989, aboard the Orbiter Atlantis.  During the four-day
mission, crew members successfully deployed the Magellan Venus-exploration
spacecraft, the first U.S. planetary science mission launched since 1978, and
the first planetary probe to be deployed from the Shuttle.  Magellan arrived at
Venus in mid-1990, and will map the entire surface of Venus using specialized
radar instruments.  In addition, crew members also worked on secondary payloads
involving fluid research in general chemistry and electrical storm studies.
Following 64 orbits of the earth, the STS-30 mission concluded with the first
cross-wind landing test of the Shuttle Orbiter at Edwards Air Force Base,
California on May 8, 1989.
 
With the completion of his second flight, Walker logged a total of 289 hours in
space.
 
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:  Walker will command a five-man crew on STS-53, a
Department of Defense mission scheduled for launch in the fall of 1992.
 
APRIL 1992