Notable people · Aviation Space · Science Engineering
Gregory J. Harbaugh
Willoughby-raised engineer and astronaut who flew four shuttle missions from 1991 to 1997, including the first docking with Mir and the second Hubble servicing mission, and later ran NASA's spacewalk office.
Born April 15, 1956, Cleveland
At a glance
- Born
- April 15, 1956, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) source
- Also known as
- Gregory J. Harbaugh, Greg Harbaugh
- Known as
- Aviation Space, Science Engineering
Gregory J. Harbaugh is living. This page covers their public life only, from published sources. Correct this page · hello@crackedbuckeye.com
Life story
Greg Harbaugh was born in Cleveland in 1956 and grew up in a working-class part of Willoughby in Lake County, building balsa model planes and falling in love with flying on a chartered Cessna out of Willoughby's Lost Nation Airport. He graduated from Willoughby South High School in 1974 and from Purdue in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1978. He went straight to Johnson Space Center, where for nine years he worked shuttle flight operations and sat in Mission Control as a data processing systems officer for most flights from STS-1 to the Challenger accident. NASA picked him as an astronaut in 1987. He flew on STS-39 (1991), STS-54 (1993), STS-71 (1995), the first shuttle docking with Mir, and STS-82 (1997), the second Hubble servicing mission, logging 818 hours in space and three spacewalks. He managed NASA's Extravehicular Activity Project Office from 1997 to 2001, then ran the Sun 'n Fun fly-in museum in Florida and the Sigma Chi Foundation.
Ohio ties
- Cleveland (1956)
birthplace Cuyahoga County · source - Willoughby (to 1974)
grew up here; Willoughby South High School class of 1974 Lake County · source - Lost Nation Airport, Willoughby
first airplane ride, in a chartered Cessna 172 his father hired for a trip to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Lake County · source
Timeline
- 1956 Born in Cleveland on 15 April. source
- 1974 Graduated from Willoughby South High School. source
- 1978 Graduated from Purdue University in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and joined NASA's Johnson Space Center, taking the lowest-paying of several job offers. source
- 1981 Began supporting shuttle flights from Mission Control, where he worked most flights from STS-1 through STS-51-L, including lead data processing systems officer for STS-9 (Spacelab 1) and STS-41-D. source
- 1986 Received an M.S. in physical science from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. source
- 1987 Selected by NASA in June, one of 15 chosen from more than 2,000 applicants; became an astronaut in August 1988. source
- 1991 Flew on STS-39 (Discovery), 28 April to 6 May, an unclassified Defense Department mission for Strategic Defense Initiative research, operating the robot arm and the IBSS spacecraft. source
- 1993 Flew on STS-54 (Endeavour), 13-19 January, which deployed the TDRS-F satellite, and made a 4-hour 28-minute spacewalk. source
- 1995 Flew as flight engineer on STS-71 (Atlantis), 27 June to 7 July, the first shuttle docking with the Russian space station Mir, and ran the docking system in flight. source
- 1997 Flew on STS-82 (Discovery), 11-21 February, the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, making two spacewalks totalling 14 hours 1 minute. source
- 1997 Became manager of NASA's Extravehicular Activity Project Office, responsible for spacesuits, tools, training and spacewalk operations for the shuttle and the International Space Station, until 2001. source
- 2001 Left NASA in March and became museum director and chief operating officer of the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, until 2006. source
- 2006 Became president and CEO of the Sigma Chi Foundation in Evanston, Illinois, serving until 2016. source
- 2018 Told a University of Wisconsin audience in February that he grew up in a working-class part of Willoughby with few role models: 'If I can do it, you can do it.' source
Stories
A charter flight from Lost Nation
As a boy in Willoughby, Harbaugh built paper and balsa-wood model airplanes and tried to make his toys fly. His father once chartered a Cessna 172 and pilot from Willoughby's Lost Nation Airport to visit Harbaugh's grandmother in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and the boy, as he told AOPA Pilot in 1992, simply fell in love with flying. He followed Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab, won a scholarship to Purdue meaning to become a professional pilot, and learned to fly there. Escorting Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart around campus for several days turned his sights to spaceflight. In 1992 he said he would like someday to run a little airport in New England.
From the back room to the payload bay
Harbaugh spent nine years on the ground before he flew. From 1978 he worked in shuttle flight operations at Johnson Space Center, and from the first shuttle flight he sat at the data processing systems consoles in Mission Control. He was lead DPS officer for STS-9, the first Spacelab flight, and STS-41-D, and a senior flight controller handling real-time problems for flights from STS-51-A up to STS-51-L, the Challenger accident of January 1986. NASA chose him as an astronaut in June 1987. On his third flight, STS-71 in 1995, he was the crewman responsible for the docking system that joined Atlantis to Mir for the first time.
Hubble's second house call
STS-82 in February 1997 was a night launch and night landing. Discovery's crew grabbed the Hubble Space Telescope, berthed it in the payload bay, and over five spacewalks by two teams installed two new spectrometers and eight replacement instruments and placed insulation patches over several electronics compartments. Harbaugh made two of the five spacewalks, 14 hours and 1 minute in all. Hubble was then released and boosted to its highest orbit yet. Later in 1997 he took over NASA's spacewalk office, which ran the suits, tools and training for every shuttle and space station spacewalk.
Sites to know
Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.
- 1 Willoughby South High School, 4900 Shankland Road (class of 1974)
Willoughby Lake County · source - 2 Lost Nation Airport, where his first airplane flight started
Willoughby Lake County · source
Ohio places
Where Gregory J. Harbaugh was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
- Connected: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Cleveland · Cuyahoga County
- Connected: Willoughby, Lake County Willoughby · Lake County
- Connected: Lost Nation Airport, Lake County Lake County
Myths and corrections
Things often said about Gregory J. Harbaugh, and what the record shows.
Often said Harbaugh was on the first shuttle crew to dock with Mir, in 1991 (Purdue News, 1997).
The record The first shuttle-Mir docking was STS-71 on Atlantis, 27 June to 7 July 1995, with Harbaugh as flight engineer. His 1991 flight was STS-39, a Defense Department mission. A 1992 AOPA Pilot profile likewise misnames STS-39 as STS-31. source
Documents
Primary records: patents, letters, court and government files, nominations and old county histories, each at the archive that holds it.
- NASA Biographical Data: Gregory J. Harbaugh (Mr.), NASA astronaut (former) 2001, NASA Johnson Space Center
Pictures
Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.
STS039-S-051 (28 April 1991) --- In KSC's Operations and Checkout Building, a very light breakfast is shared b...
Public domain
Astronauts Gregory J. Harbaugh, wearing extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) (red stripes), and Mario Runco, Jr....
Public domain
Astronauts Gregory Harbaugh and Mario Runco, Jr. during the EVA on STS-54. STS-54 Mission Specialist (MS2) and...
Public domain
Their launch day already well under way, the STS-71 flight crew pauses for lunch and a photo session in the Op...
Public domain
As part of the final STS-82 prelaunch activities, the seven crew members gather for lunch and a photo opportun...
Public domain
Gregory J. Harbaugh at work on Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on the remote manipulator system (RMS) at night du...
Public domain
Gregory J. Harbaugh, STS-82 mission specialist assigned to extravehicular activity (EVA) involved with the ser...
Public domain
Steven A. Hawley (left) and Gregory J. Harbaugh participate in a training session in JSC's systems integration...
Public domain
Inside the Spacelab Science Module, the crewmembers of STS-71, Mir- 18, and Mir-19 pose for the traditional in...
Public domain
Inside the Spacelab Science Module, the crewmembers of STS-71, Mir- 18, and Mir-19 pose for the traditional in...
Public domain
This wide shot of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in Discovery's cargo bay, backdropped over Australia, was t...
Public domain
STS-54 Mission Specialist Greg Harbaugh (red stripe) and Mission Specialist Mario Runco, both wearing their sp...
Public domain
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Sources
Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_J._Harbaugh
- https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/harbaugh_gregory.pdf
- https://www.purdue.edu/uns/html3month/1997/971010.Harbaugh.html
- https://www.purdue.edu/space/astronaut/greg-harbaugh
- https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/1992/december/pilot/pilots-(6)
- https://badgerherald.com/news/campus/2018/02/27/nasa-astronaut-draws-on-outer-space-experiences-to-inform-approach-to-real-world/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willoughby_South_High_School
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Nation_Airport
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gregory_J._Harbaugh_portrait.jpg
Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-15.