PROCLAMATION:COMMANDER, USN, SCOTT
ALTMAN DAY
AUGUST 21, 2002
Since the establishment of Logan County in 1839 many citizens
born or living in the county have contributed to our local, state or
national history; and
Those citizens have represented all segments of our economic,
political, and social heritage; and
Such fields of excellence and achievement have included politics,
theatre, sports, government, medicine, education, radio,
agriculture, literature; and
The American nation faced a scientific challenge when the Soviet
Union launched a satellite, called Sputnik, into orbit on October 4,
1957, and in November 1957, Sputnik 11 was launched carrying a dog
into outer space; and
The United Stated began its "rocket fever" answer to the Russian
space challenge in 1958; and
President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation on July 25, 1961,
to "commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out,
of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth"; and
In response to President Kennedy’s challenge, a space program was
initiated, and through the achievement of our American scientists,
man landed on the moon and safely returned to earth in July, 1969;
and
The American space program has contributed to expand, and its
results have enhanced the quality of life for the American people
and other nations throughout the world; and
Scott D. Altman was born Lincoln, IL in 1959, one year after the
Americans hurled a grapefruit-sized satellite into space; and
Scott D. Altman has achieved much in the fields of aeronautics
and space throughout his educational and military career; and
Scott D. Altman was selected as the main pilot in the movie "Top
Gun" with Tom Cruise as the star pilot; and
Scott D. Altman was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in
December 1994, and reported to the Johnson Space Center in 1995,
where he completed a year of training and worked the technical
aspects of orbiter landing and roll-out issues for the Astronaut
Office Vehicle Systems Branch; and
Scott D. Altman served as pilot on the STS-90 Neurolab, a
sixteen-day space lab mission dedicated to the investigation on the
effects of microgravity on the nervous system launched in April
1998; and
In September 2000, a twelve-day mission where the crew
successfully prepared the International Space Station for the
arrival of the first permanent crew. They delivered more than 6,600
pounds of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, a
toilet and a treadmill on the Space Station. Altman was one of two
operators of the robot arm transporting the EVA crew during the
spacewalk; and
In March 2002, served as Commander of the STS-109 upgrading the
Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit, a new
camera and new solar arrays. The STS-109 covered 3.9 million miles
in over 262 hours, culminating in a night landing at Kennedy Space
Center, Florida.
We wish to proclaim August 21, 2002, as "Commander, Scott D.
Altman Day" in the City of Lincoln, Illinois, Logan County, in his
honor.
MAYOR
Dated August 19, 2002
