Joseph P. Kerwin

Joseph Peter Kerwin, M.D. (born February 19, 1932) is an American physician and former NASA astronaut who served as science pilot for the Skylab 2 mission from May 25–June 22, 1973. He was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training.

Early years
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Kerwin graduated from Fenwick High School, a private school in Oak Park, in 1949. He received a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1953; a doctor of medicine degree from Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, in 1957; completed his internship at the District of Columbia General Hospital in Washington, D.C.; and attended the United States Navy School of Aviation Medicine at Pensacola, Florida, being designated a naval flight surgeon in December 1958.

Military career
Kerwin was a Captain (now retired) in the Navy Medical Corps, commissioned in July 1958. He earned his wings at Beeville, Texas in 1962. He has logged 4,500 hours flying time.

NASA career
Kerwin was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. He was one of the capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) on Apollo 13 (in 1970).

He served as science pilot for the Skylab 2 (SL-2) mission which launched on May 25 and splashed down on June 22, 1973. With him for the initial activation and 28-day flight qualification operations of the Skylab Orbital Workshop were Charles Conrad, Jr., (spacecraft commander) and Paul J. Weitz (pilot).

Kerwin was subsequently in charge of the on-orbit branch of the Astronaut Office, where he coordinated astronaut activity involving rendezvous, satellite deployment and retrieval, and other Space Shuttle payload operations. Kerwin was part of the NBC broadcasting team for coverage of the launch of STS-1.

From 1982–83, Kerwin served as NASA's senior science representative in Australia. In this capacity, he served as liaison between NASA's Office of Space Tracking and Data Systems and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. During this time, Kerwin was considered to fly on the mission that would become STS-41-C (then known as STS-13), but his assignment in Australia prevented his selection.

From 1984–87, he served as director, Space and Life Sciences, Johnson Space Center. Kerwin was responsible for direction and coordination of medical support to operational manned spacecraft programs, including health care and maintenance of the astronauts and their families; for direction of life services, supporting research and light experiment project; and for managing JSC earth sciences and scientific efforts in lunar and planetary research.

Post-NASA career
Kerwin retired from the Navy, left NASA, and joined Lockheed in 1987. At Lockheed, he managed the Extravehicular Systems Project, providing hardware for Space Station Freedom, from 1988 to 1990; with Paul Cottingham and Ted Christian invented the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER), first tested for use by space walking astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) during Space Shuttle flight STS-64. He then served on the Assured Crew Return Vehicle team, and served as Study Manager on the Human Transportation Study, a NASA review of future space transportation architectures. In 1994–95 he led the Houston liaison group for Lockheed Martin's FGB contract, the procurement of the Russian "space tug" which has become the first element of the ISS. He served on the NASA Advisory Council from 1990 to 1993.

He joined Systems Research Laboratories (SRL) in June 1996, to serve as Program Manager of the SRL team which bid to win the Medical Support and Integration Contract at the Johnson Space Center. The incumbent, KRUG Life Sciences, was selected. Then, to his surprise, KRUG recruited him to replace its retiring president, T. Wayne Holt. He joined KRUG on April 1, 1997. On March 16, 1998, KRUG Life Sciences became the Life Sciences Special Business Unit of Wyle Laboratories of El Segundo, California.

In addition to his duties at Wyle, Kerwin serves on the Board of Directors of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) as an industry representative. He retired from Wyle in the summer of 2004.

Personal
Kerwin is married to the former Shirley Ann Good of Danville, Pennsylvania. They have three daughters and five grandchildren. His hobbies are reading and classical music. He is a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Honours and awards

 * Navy Distinguished Service Medal
 * NASA Distinguished Service Medal

Books
Kerwin is co-author, along with fellow astronaut Owen Garriott and writer David Hitt, of Homesteading Space, a history of the Skylab program published in 2008.

In the movies
Kerwin is portrayed by Jack Hogan in the 1974 TV movie Houston, We've Got a Problem.