Space | Commander of first flight of space shuttle Challenger dies

From left: Dr. Story Musgrave, pilot Karol J. Bobko, mission specialist Donald H. Peterson and commander Paul J. Weitz (1982)

Paul Weitz, a retired NASA astronaut who commanded the first flight of the space shuttle Challenger and also piloted the Skylab in the early 1970s, has died. He was 85.

Weitz died at his retirement home in Flagstaff, Arizona, yesterday, said Laura Cutchens of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. No cause of death was given.

A NASA biography says Weitz was among the class of 19 astronauts who were chosen in April 1966. He served as command module pilot on the first crew of the orbiting space laboratory known as Skylab during a 28-day mission in 1973.

Weitz also piloted the first launch of the shuttle Challenger in April 1983.

The five-day mission took off from the Kennedy space Center in Florida and landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Challenger was destroyed and seven crew members killed during its 10th launch on January 28, 1986.

In all, he logged 793 hours in space and retired as deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in May 1994.

Weitz was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on July 25, 1932.  AP