Russell L. "Rusty" Schweickart (born October 25, 1935, in Neptune, New Jersey) is an American astronaut.

Schweickart became an astronaut in October of 1963. He has spent over 241 hours in space on one spaceflight. In 1969, Schweickart served on the Apollo 9 mission during which he piloted the lunar module. This was the first manned test of the Apollo lunar module as well as the first broadcast of music from space.

Schweickart was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1973.

Rusty Schweickart has spoken and taught at the Esalen Institute. Schweickart is also cofounder of the B612 Foundation, a group that aims to defend Earth from asteroid impacts.

External links

• Astronaut Bio R. Schweickart (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/schweickart-rl.html) from NASA
• No Frames, No Boundaries Connecting with the whole planet—from space (http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC03/Schweick.htm) by Russell Schweickart