Thornton, William E. (William Edgar), 1929-

William Edgar Thornton, M.D.; born April 14, 1929; former NASA astronaut.

William Edgar Thornton, MD; born, Faison, North Carolina, April 14, 1929; BS in physics (1952), MD (1963), University of North Carolina; served as officer-in-charge of the Instrumentation Lab at the Flight Test Air Proving Ground; returned to active duty with the United States Air Force after medical school and became involved in space medicine research, developed and designed the first mass measuring devices for space; logged over 2,500 hours pilot flying time in jet aircraft; Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, adjunct Professor at University of Houston, Clear Lake; selected as a scientist-astronaut, 1967; member, support crew for the Skylab 2, 3, and 4 missions, principal investigator for Skylab experiments on mass measurement; holds more than 35 issued patents; veteran of two space flights; logged over 313 hours in space; mission specialist on Challenger (1983, 1985); retired from NASA, 1994.