Loren Acton
Loren Wilber Acton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 7, 1936 |
| Status | Retired |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | Montana State University, (BS) University of Colorado, Boulder, (PhD) |
| Occupation | Solar X-ray Physicist |
| Space career | |
| Lockheed Payload Specialist | |
Time in space | 7d 22h 45min |
| Missions | STS-51-F |
Mission insignia |  |
Loren Wilber Acton (born March 7, 1936) is an American physicist who flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-51-F as a Payload Specialist for the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory. He is also the father of Cheryll Glotfelty, a leading ecocritic.[1]
Early life and education
Acton was born in Lewistown, Montana. He received a bachelor of science degree in Engineering Physics from Montana State University in 1959, and a Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1965.[2]
Career
Acton was a senior staff scientist with the Space Sciences Laboratory, Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory, California.[2] As a research scientist, his principal duties included conducting scientific studies of the Sun and other celestial objects using advanced space instruments and serving as a co-investigator on one of the Spacelab 2 solar experiments, the Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter. He was selected as one of four payload specialists for Spacelab 2 on August 9, 1978, and after seven years of training he flew on STS-51-F/ Spacelab-2 in 1985.[3] At mission conclusion, Acton had travelled over 2.8 million miles in 126 Earth orbits, logging over 190 hours in space.
Acton is married and has two children. In 2006 he ran in an election to be the state representative of Montana's District 69, as a Democratic candidate. In the event, he lost to the Republican incumbent, Jack M. Wells of Belgrade.[4]
Acton is currently a retired Research Professor of Physics at Montana State University, where he was responsible for the formation of the Solar Physics group and the Space Science and Engineering Laboratory. The MSU solar group carries on an active research program under NASA and NSF support and is actively involved in day-to-day operation and scientific utilization of satellite missions for studies of the Sun. Acton was a principal investigator for Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) experiment on the Japan/US/UK Yohkoh mission "Yohkoh Legacy Archive". The Yohkoh mission focused on the study of high-energy solar processes, such as solar flares, eruptions and the heating of the corona. The primary emission of the extremely hot outer atmosphere of the Sun, the solar corona, is at X-ray wavelengths. The extended duration, high resolution, X-ray imagery from Yohkoh contribute to the study of why the Sun has a corona at all and why it varies in intensity so strongly in response to the 11-year sunspot cycle.
Awards
- 2000 George Ellery Hale Prize by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society[5]
- Recognized in February 2020 as Legacy Fellow of American Astronomical Society[6]
- 2017 The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by Japanese government[7]
References
- ^ Balaev, Michelle; Glotfelty, Cheryll (May 2012). "The Formation of a Field: Ecocriticism in America—An Interview with Cheryll Glotfelty". PMLA. 127 (3). Modern Language Association: 607–616. doi:10.1632/pmla.2012.127.3.607. eISSN 1938-1530. ISSN 0030-8129. JSTOR 41616853. S2CID 145675595.
- ^ a b "Loren W. Acton" (PDF). NASA. August 1985. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 15, 2025. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
- ^ "Astronauts set to try launch again". Bristol Herald Courier. Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Associated Press. July 28, 1985. p. 5A – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Wrap Up of an Honorable (but losing) Campaign". Volunteers for Loren Acton. Archived from the original on October 4, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2012.
- ^ "George Ellery Hale Prize - Previous Winners". AAS Solar Physics Division. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ "AAS Fellows Program". AAS. Archived from the original on April 15, 2026. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ 平成29年秋の外国人叙勲 [List of Honorable foreigners in 2017] (PDF) (in Japanese). Cabinet of Japan. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
External links
- "Biography of Loren Acton". spacefacts.de. August 24, 2018. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026.
- "Loren Acton Academic Homepage". Montana State University. November 13, 1999. Archived from the original on August 22, 2025.
