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Astronaut Jon McBride, early NASA space shuttle pilot, dies at 80

Space
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Jon McBride was the pilot of the space shuttle Challenger 's sixth flight into space on Oct. 5, 1984 .

He was the 156th person to fly into space and 149th to orbit Earth .

McBride and his crew's activities were documented using a large-format 70mm camera and featured in the 1985 IMAX documentary " The Dream is Alive ".

McBride was the lead chase pilot for STS-1 , the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia in 1981 .

He led a crew of six on a planned nine-day flight aboard Columbia .

McBride also worked on certifying flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory .

He retired from NASA and the Navy with the rank of captain.