Joseph P. Allen was born on June 27, 1937 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA as Joseph Percival Allen. He is known for his work on Armageddon (1998), Mission to Mars (2000) and Horizon (1964).
Graduated from Crawfordsville High School in Indiana; received a bachelor of arts degree in math-physics from DePauw University in 1959, a master of science degree (1961) and a doctor of philosophy degree in physics from Yale University (1965).
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Dr. Allen was a research associate in the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington prior to his selection as an astronaut. He was a staff physicist at the Nuclear Structure Laboratory at Yale University in 1965 and 1966, and during the period 1963 to 1967, served as a guest researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
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Dr. Allen was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August, 1967.
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He logged more than 3,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft and a total of 314 hours in space.
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He served as mission scientist while a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 15 and served as a staff consultant on science and technology to the President's Council on International Economic Policy.
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From August 1975 to 1978, Dr. Allen served as NASA Assistant Administrator for Legislative Affairs in Washington, D.C. Returning to the Johnson Space Center in 1978, as a senior scientist astronaut, Allen was assigned to the Operations Mission Development Group. He served as a support crew member for the first orbital flight test of the Space Transportation System.
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Dr. Allen served as mission specialist on STS-5, the first fully operational flight of the Shuttle Transportation System, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 11, 1982.
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Dr. Allen was a mission specialist on STS 51-A, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on November 8, 1984. In the first space salvage attempt in history, the crew successfully retrieved the Palapa B-2 and Westar VI communications satellites and returned them to Earth.
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Earned a Fulbright Scholarship to Germany, 1959-1960.
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Children: David Christopher Allen (born in September 1968) and Elizabeth Darling Allen (born in May 1972).
$13 Million
