Science & invention / Military
Jerry M. Linenger
born 1955 · astronaut, Navy physician
Navy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut from East Detroit who spent almost five months aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997, surviving a fire on board; a Wayne State medical graduate.
- Born
East Detroit (now Eastpointe), Michigan
age 71- Birth name
- Jerry Michael Linenger
- Also known as
- Jerry Linenger
- Detroit years
- 1955–1973; 1977–1981
- Field
- Science & invention, Military
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Linenger was born in 1955 and raised in East Detroit, the Macomb County suburb renamed Eastpointe in 1992, and graduated from East Detroit High School in 1973. After the U.S. Naval Academy he came back to Detroit for medical school, earning his MD at Wayne State University in 1981, and went on to degrees in public health and epidemiology while serving as a Navy flight surgeon. NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1992, and he flew on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-64 mission in 1994. In January 1997 he began a stay of more than four months on the Russian space station Mir, during which he and his crewmates fought a serious fire and coped with failing systems; he described the mission in his book Off the Planet (2000). His hometown honored him with a McDonald's restaurant decorated with space memorabilia.
Highlights
- Spent about five months aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997
- Helped fight the February 1997 fire on board Mir
- Flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-64 (1994)
- MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine, 1981
- East Detroit High School, class of 1973
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · until 1973
Eastpointe High School (formerly East Detroit High School)
His high school, renamed Eastpointe High School in 2017, twenty-five years after the city changed its name.
Studied here · 1977–1981
Wayne State University School of Medicine
He earned his medical degree here in 1981 and later received its Distinguished Alumni Award.