Harrison Schmitt

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Following his graduation from Caltech in 1957 with a BS in geology, Harrison H. (Jack) Schmitt studied for a year in Norway as a Fulbright Scholar. After he received his PhD in geology from Harvard in 1964 he was with the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Center at Flagstaff, Arizona. He was project chief for lunar field geological methods and participated in photo and telescopic mapping of the Moon, and was among USGS astrogeologists instructing NASA astronauts during their geological field trips. Dr. Schmitt was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in June 1965. In addition to training for future manned space flights, he was instrumental in providing Apollo flight crews with detailed instruction in lunar navigation, geology, and feature recognition. Schmitt also assisted in the integration of scientific activities into the Apollo lunar missions and participated in research activities requiring geologic, petrographic, and stratigraphic analyses of samples returned from the moon by Apollo missions. Schmitt served as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 15 in addition to being a member of the landing crew on Apollo 17. In November 1976, Dr. Schmitt was elected to the United States Senate in his home state of New Mexico. He served a six-year term with committee assignments on the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Select Committee on Ethics. Since 1982, Schmitt has worked as a consultant, corporate director, and freelance writer and speaker on matters related to space, science, technology, and public policy. In 1994, he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and Chairman and President of the Annapolis Center for Environmental Quality. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Caltech Alumni Association. A member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, his research interests include lunar geology, ore deposits, and metamorphic and igneous petrology.