David E. Steitz Headquarters, Washington, DC December 12, 1994 (Phone: 202/358-1730) Kyle Herring Johnson Space Center, Houston (Phone: 713/483-5111) RELEASE: 94-210 APOLLO ASTRONAUT STUART ALLEN ROOSA DIES Col. Stuart Allen Roosa, 61, USAF retired, one of six Apollo astronauts to fly solo around the Moon, died Dec. 12 due to complications from pancreatitis. Born Aug. 16, 1933, in Durango, CO, Roosa has been a long time resident of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He died in Washington, DC, during a visit with one of his children. At the time of his death, Roosa was president and owner of Gulf Coast Coors, Inc., Gulfport, MS. Roosa served as the Command Module Pilot for the Apollo 14 mission from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, 1971. His fellow crew members were Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell. Throughout the 33-hour stay on the surface of the Moon by Shepard and Mitchell, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the command module "Kitty Hawk," to conduct a variety of assigned photographic and visual observations. "Stuart Roosa was one of the 'can-do' spacefarers that helped take America, and all humankind, to the Moon. He exemplified the talents that all of NASA strives for -- service to our nation, technical know-how and an unbridled creative spirit," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin. Prior to joining NASA, in the early 1950's Roosa worked for the U.S. Forest Service fighting fires as a smoke jumper. He later graduated from the Aerospace Test Pilots School and was an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Throughout his career, Roosa logged more than 5,500 hours of flying time and 217 hours in space. Roosa attended Gunnery School at Del Rio Air Force Base, TX, and Luke Air Force Base, AZ, and is a graduate of the Aviation Cadet Program at Williams Air Force Base, AZ, where he received his flight training commission in the Air Force. From July 1962 to August 1964, Roosa was a maintenance flight test pilot at Olmstead Air Force Base, PA, flying F-101 aircraft. He was a fighter pilot at Langley Air Force Base, VA, where he flew the F-84F and F- 100 aircraft. Following graduation from the University of Colorado, under the Air Force Institute of Technology Program, he served as chief of service engineering at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, for two years. Roosa was one of 19 people selected as part of the astronaut class of 1966 and served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo 9 mission. Following Apollo 14, he served as backup command pilot for Apollo 16 and Apollo 17. He was assigned to the Space Shuttle program until his retirement as a Colonel from the Air Force in 1976. After leaving NASA and the Air Force, Roosa was Corporate Vice President for International Operations for U.S. Industries, Inc., Oak Brook, IL, and President, USI Middle East Development Company, Ltd., Athens, Greece, from 1976 to 1977. Roosa's special honors include the NASA Distinguished Service Medal; the Johnson Space Center Superior Achievement Award (1970); the Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut Wings; the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal; the Arnold Air Society's John F. Kennedy Award (1971); the City of New York Gold Medal (1971); the American Astronautical Society's Flight Achievement Award (1971); the Order of Tehad (1973); and the Order of the Central African Empire (1973). Roosa earned a PMD from Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA, and an LL.D. from St. Thomas University, Houston. Roosa was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Association of Space Explorers, the Explorers Club, the Circumnavigators Club, the Shikar Safari Club, and the Confederate Air Force. Roosa is survived by his wife Joan, sons Christopher, Jack and Allen, daughter Rosemary and granddaughters Kathleen and Danielle. Services will be held later this week at Arlington National Cemetery.