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NASA astronaut G. David Low
(Times Union (Albany, NY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 27--Although he never lived here, astronaut G. David Low was embraced by the Capital Region as our own space walker.
Low, the son of one-time Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute president George M. Low, died this month of colon cancer at Reston Hospital Center in Virginia. He was 52.
A NASA astronaut for 12 years, he served on three space shuttle missions, logging more than 714 hours in space while circling the earth more than 540 times.
Low caught the bug for space exploration from his father, who was a NASA director before coming to RPI's Troy campus in 1976. George Low directed the Gemini and Apollo missions for NASA. He served as RPI president until his death from cancer in July 1984 at the age of 58. He is recognized for developing RPI into a nationally renowned research university.
The same month his father died, the younger Low became an astronaut at 28, the youngest in his class. In June 1993, he was payload commander aboard the Endeavor, which was launched to recover the free-flying European Retrievable Carrier. During the mission, Low and fellow astronaut Peter J.K. "Jeff" Wisoff spent five hours and 50 minutes outside the spacecraft.
David Low was born in Cleveland, where his father was affiliated with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics as an engineer at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory after receiving his master's in aeronautical engineering in 1950 from RPI. Earlier he received a bachelor's degree in the same field.
The younger Low often visited Troy -- the hometown of his mother, the former Mary Ruth McNamara, who married George Low in 1949 -- and other Capital Region communities.
At age 9, David Low, the middle child of five, announced he would be an astronaut. In May 1990, he told more than 600 spellbound kids and teachers at Okte Elementary School in Clifton Park the same thing. "I wanted to fly in space since I was 9 years old," the then 34-year-old astronaut told the packed gymnasium. "Probably if I was born a hundred years ago, I would have wanted to be a cowboy. ... It's what excites me."
He was in the area to attend the senior class banquet at RPI. He also visited Troy's School 14.
In 1995, he gave the commencement address at RPI, telling the graduates to take the risks, dream the big dreams and treat others with respect and dignity.
In 1999, he attended RPI's Space Week, which honored the school's contributions to astronomical research and George Low's contributions to NASA.
After high school in McLean Va., Low received a bachelor's degree in physics and engineering from Washington and Lee University, a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Albany Times Union, N.Y.
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