Slayton, Donald Kent (1924-1993), was one of the original seven United States astronauts and a member of the first joint space mission with the Soviet Union. He was widely known by the nickname “Deke.” On July 17, 1975, Slayton, Thomas P. Stafford, and Vance D. Brand docked their Apollo spacecraft with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft carrying Alexei A. Leonov and Valery N. Kubasov in orbit around the earth.
Slayton joined the astronaut program in 1959. However, he was removed from active status from 1962 until 1972 because of a minor heart ailment. In 1966, he became director of flight crew operations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Manned Spacecraft Center (later named the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) in Houston. He retired from NASA in 1982. That same year, he became president of a rocket-building company in Houston.
Slayton was born on March 1, 1924, in Sparta, Wisconsin. He entered the United States Air Force (then the Army Air Forces) in 1942 and flew 63 combat missions in World War II. Slayton graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1949. He died on June 13, 1993.
See also Mercury .
