Originally from Mississippi, Richard Truly earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. During his time in school, he was a member of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. After graduation, he attended Navy flight school and became a naval aviator in October 1960.
Truly flew F-8 Crusaders with Fighter Squadron 33 aboard the USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise. Afterward, he attended Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and, following graduation, became an instructor there. In 1965, he was selected for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program with the Air Force. After the program was canceled in 1969, NASA selected him to become an astronaut.
As capsule communicator, Truly worked on three Skylab missions in 1973, and the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975. In 1981, he served as the pilot for the STS-2 mission on the Columbia shuttle and, in 1983, as the commander for the STS-8 mission on the Challenger shuttle. The STS-2 was the first shuttle reused from a former space flight, and the STS-8 was the first night launch and landing. Truly also served as a pilot for approach and landing tests, which in addition to his flying time as a naval officer, aided to his accumulating over 7,000 flying hours.
After Truly completed the STS-8 mission, he served as the first commander of the Naval Space Command and retired from the Navy as a vice admiral in June 1989. The following day, he was sworn in as the eighth administrator of NASA, serving from 1989 to 1992.
After his service, Truly held vice president and director positions at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and the Department of Energy. He also testified as a member of the military advisory board on national security issues related to climate change to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
We honor his service.
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It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.
Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Visit the Library of Congress website to learn more.
Writer: Taryn Gehman
Editor: Vincent Tran
Researchers: Vivian Hurney, Andre Willey
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