Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Bill Readdy signed STS-1

Astronaut Bill Readdy signed STS-1 External Tank Repair commemorative cover. Missions STS-42, STS-51, STS-79. Readdy graduated from Annapolis in 1974, and earned his wings as a Naval Aviator. Following fleet training in the A-6 Intruder at NAS Oceana, Virginia, he joined Attack Squadron Eighty-five aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal deployed to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1976 until 1980. Upon completion of the Naval Test Pilot School, he served as project test pilot on a variety of programs at Strike Aircraft Test Directorate. Following a tour as a test pilot instructor, he reported in 1984 to USS Coral Sea, on Caribbean and Mediterranean deployments. In 1986 Readdy transferred into the Naval Reserve to join NASA and served as an instructor pilot and unit commander until his naval retirement in August 2000. He has logged 7,000 flying hours in over 60 types of fixed wing and helicopters and over 550 carrier landings. Readdy joined NASA's Johnson Space Center in October 1986 as a research pilot at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, where he served as program manager for the highly modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. He was selected as an astronaut in the 1987 Group. He served in numerous support roles including: Training Officer; Safety Officer; Operations Development Branch Chief; NASA Director of Operations, Star City, Russia; Stafford Task Force; and the first manager of Space Shuttle Program Development charged with upgrading the Space Shuttle. Readdy is a veteran pilot astronaut with three space flights, STS-42 (January 22-30, 1992), STS-51 (September 12-22, 1993) and, most recently, STS-79 (September 16-26, 1996). Readdy has logged over 672 hours in space.