Remembering Jon McBride, The 1st West Virginian In Space

On Oct. 5, 1984, Capt. Jon McBride piloted the successful launch of the space shuttle Challenger on an eight-day mission called STS-41G.

He was the first West Virginian in space and the only one to ever fly a shuttle.

McBride was born in Charleston and grew up in Beckley. He attended West Virginia University and became a Navy pilot.

In 1978, NASA chose him to be part of the first class of astronauts in the shuttle program. Among the thousands of applicants, NASA picked 35.

They included Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space.

Both were on the mission McBride piloted. Marc Garneau, a Canadian, joined them to become the first person from his country in space.

It was the first shuttle mission with seven astronauts. By the time they landed, they had traveled 3.3 million miles – one full orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes.

McBride was scheduled to pilot another shuttle mission in March 1986, but the explosion of the Challenger after liftoff earlier that year put the program on hold.

McBride retired from NASA in 1989 but continued to educate young people about space.

At the National Air and Space Museum in 2017, he spoke to to students about a future mission to Mars, with a Mars rover behind him.

“If you get that assignment to Mars, make sure you call me. NASA will find me somewhere. I hope to still be around. Make sure to invite me to your launch.”

By then, McBride had met nearly everybody who’d ever gone to space. And when the oldest generation had completed their mission on earth, he was often called on to memorialize them.

McBride died Wednesday in Florida at age 80.