William Thornton
William Thornton was an American astronaut who was born on April 14, 1929, in North Carolina. Before he became an astronaut, Thornton worked as a doctor for the Air Force.
Thornton became an astronaut in 1967. He has spent over 312 hours in space on two spaceflights.
In 1983, Thornton became the oldest person to fly in space at the time aboard STS-8. During this mission Thornton studied space adaptation syndrome, a sickness that occurs in space. In 1985, Thornton flew aboard Spacelab 3. He was able to test a specially designed exercise treadmill (that he invented) during this mission.
