Karol Bobko, a pilot in the Air Force who later became an astronaut, passed away at the age of 85 in his home in Half Moon Bay, California. Bobko piloted the inaugural flight of the shuttle Challenger, three years before it tragically exploded after liftoff.
Born on December 23, 1937, in Manhattan, Bobko grew up in Queens and later moved to Seaford, Long Island. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and studied aerospace engineering. In 1959, he graduated from the United States Air Force Academy as part of its first graduating class.
In 1966, Bobko joined a Defense Department project exploring the military applications of space. However, the project was discontinued in 1969, just before the first moon landing. Bobko and six other laboratory astronauts were then transferred to NASA.
While waiting for a space mission, Bobko earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering and provided support and testing for Skylab, the Apollo-Soyuz mission, and the shuttle program. He described the long wait as feeling like a “cosine wave in a sine-wave world.”
In 1983, Bobko piloted the Challenger on its maiden flight, where the crew deployed a communications satellite and two astronauts performed the shuttle’s first spacewalk. He went on to command two more shuttle missions, including the Discovery in 1985 and the Atlantis on its first flight in the same year.
Despite experiencing the heartbreaking loss of the Challenger crew during the 1986 explosion, Bobko continued his career. He retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1988 and worked as a consultant and in various leadership positions in the technology and consulting industries.
Karol Bobko leaves behind his wife, Dianne, his son, Paul, his daughter, Michelle, a grandson, and his brother, Peter. His contributions to the space program and his dedication to his work will always be remembered.
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