John Howard Casper (born July 9, 1943) is an American astronaut. Casper became an astronaut in 1985. He has spent over 825 hours in space on four spaceflights. In 1990, Casper made his first spaceflight aboard STS-36. This was a Department of Defense mission. He flew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993. The crew deployed the Tracking and Data Relay satellite during this mission. Read more