Jerome Apt Status: Retired 4/28/1949 – Nationality: American Type: Government First Flight: 4/5/1991 Last Flight: 9/26/1996 Jerome “Jay” Apt III, Ph.D. (born April 28, 1949 in Massachusetts) is an American astronaut and professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Before he became an astronaut, Apt was a physicist who worked on the Pioneer Venus 1978 space probe project, and used visible light and infrared techniques to study the planets and moons of the solar system from ground-based observatories. Launches Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-37 Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-47 Space Shuttle Endeavour / OV-105 | STS-59 Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-79 National Aeronautics and Space Administration Type: Government Abbreviation: NASA Administration: Administrator: Jim Bridenstine Founded: 1958 Launchers: Space Shuttle | SLS Spacecraft: Orion Country: USA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.