Path to the stars
With the Great Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union unfolding in newspapers and on television, Culbertson took an avid interest in aviation and aerospace and began to pattern his life after famed military test pilots and early U.S. space explorers.
"I was well aware of the Sputnik and well aware of the things that were happening in space, just because we talked about it around my home, and it was very exciting to watch" he said.
"And so even when I was in high school, I began watching the early astronauts and reading about how they had gotten where they were and started trying to go down that same path."
That path led to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1971 with a degree in aerospace engineering. A decade later, Culbertson was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland, and in 1984, he became a NASA astronaut.
None of that, however, would have happened without a key personality trait: Perseverance.
"Stubbornness is the way my family would describe it," Culbertson said.
Not one to be deterred, Culbertson finally was accepted to test pilot school on his fourth attempt and it took "a couple of applications to NASA to get an interview also," he said.
"But I just kept at it as I went through my career. This was always the goal I really wanted, and if there was any way to stay on track for that, I tried to do it," he added. "I think it's important for anybody who wants to achieve a goal or arrive at a certain destination, or start a certain journey. You have to have perseverance to get ready to do that."
Culbertson completed basic astronaut training in June 1985 and then worked as a member of the astronaut launch support team at NASA's coastal Florida spaceport. His resolve, however, was tested yet again in January 1986 when the Challenger accident shut down NASA's piloted spaceflight program for almost three years.
During that 33-month hiatus, Culbertson took on temporary duty at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., assisting with inquiries carried out by NASA, Congress and the Rogers Commission, which was appointed by then-President Reagan to investigate the accident.
Consequently, Culbertson's first flight into space didn't come until November 1990, when he served as the pilot of shuttle Atlantis during a classified Pentagon mission. A top-secret reconnaissance satellite reportedly was deployed on the flight.
Three years later, Culbertson commanded a satellite-delivery mission aboard shuttle Discovery, one that resulted in close calls both on the ground and in orbit.
Scrubbed twice in July 1993 due to technical problems, launch of the STS-51 mission was subsequently delayed to avoid flying the shuttle in what amounted to a cosmic shooting gallery: An unusually strong Perseid meteor storm.
Then on Aug. 12, one of Discovery's three liquid fueled main engines shut down just three seconds before a scheduled liftoff, triggering a potentially dangerous launch-pad abort that delayed the flight another month.
Culbertson and his crew finally got off the ground Sept. 12, setting out to deploy an advanced communications technology satellite and an attached upper stage booster designed to loft the spacecraft into an orbit 22,300 miles (35,680 kilometers) above the planet.
Cradled in the shuttle's cargo bay, the satellite and its upper stage were equipped with primary and back-up explosive cords -- devices designed to free them from their launch carrier.
Both cords, however, inadvertently detonated at the same time, sending a hail of shrapnel through the cargo bay. The flying metal sliced into 24 insulation blankets near one of the three units that hydraulically power crucial shuttle landing systems.
No serious damage was done, and Culbertson and his crew were not harmed, but the incident proved to be a harbinger of things to come.
Next page: Managing chaos
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