Born in 1943 in the green hills of West Virginia, a young Jon McBride dreamed of flying to the stars.  In the mid-sixties, McBride joined the US Navy, where he flew over 60 combat missions during Vietnam in the F-4 Phantom.  He attended the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base and was a graduate of the forerunner to the “Top Gun” flight school at Miramar, California.  McBride did undergraduate work at West Virginia University and received his degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the US Naval Postgraduate School.  He also did graduate work at Pepperdine University.  McBride has been awarded many decorations and honors, among them the Defense Superior Service Medal, three Air Medals, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat V, The Vietnamese Service Medal and the NASA Space Flight Medal.

McBride joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1978 as an astronaut candidate.  His only space flight was from October 5 to October 13, 1984, as pilot of the space shuttle Challenger.  This flight’s crew of seven was the largest launched into orbit on a single vehicle to that date.  The crew deployed a scientific research satellite and photographed the earth with the large format IMAX camera.

In 1987, in the wake of the Challenger disaster, McBride was assigned to NASA Headquarters as Acting Assistant Administrator for Congressional Relations, where he was responsible for NASA’s relationship with Congress. 

Captain McBride resigned from NASA and the Navy in 1989 to pursue a business career.  He is currently a member of the Kennedy Space Center Astronaut Encounter team and does lecturing and corporate motivational presentations.