NASA Astronaut Donald H. Peterson (colonel, USAF, ret.) attended the UT Space Institute in 1969–70. He received the BS from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1955 and the MS from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1962. He was a graduate student after becoming an astronaut candidate in 1969. He served on the NASA support crew for Apollo 16. He was a mission specialist on STS-6 (April 4–9, 1983). During this maiden voyage of the spacecraft Challenger, the STS-6 crew conducted numerous experiments in materials processing, recorded lightning activities, deployed the first tracking and data relay satellite, and activated three getaway specials.