Vance Brand

Vance Brand is an American astronaut who was born on May 9, 1931 in Colorado. Before he became an astronaut, Brand was a pilot for the Marines and Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

Brand became an astronaut in 1966. He has made four spaceflights spending over 746 hours in space.

In 1975, Brand was part of the first international mission, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Soviet and American astronauts met in space after an Apollo craft docked with a Soyuz craft.

In 1982, Brand was the commander of the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle. In 1984, Brand commanded Mission 41-B in which two satellites were deployed. Brand's last flight into space occurred in 1990. During this mission, the crew operated several telescopes for deep-space research.


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