John S. Bull

U. S. Navy test pilot, engineer and astronaut

John Sumter Bull (September 25, 1934 – August 11, 2008), was an American naval officer and aviator, fighter pilot, test pilot, mechanical and aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut.

Bull was born on September 25, 1934, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he attended primary and secondary schools and graduated in 1952 from Central High School.

Bull joined the U. S. Navy in June 1957. Following his flight training, from March 1959 to November 1960, he flew the F 3 Demon and F 4 Phantom II while assigned to VF 114 at the Naval Air Station in Mirimar, California. Bull was a Navy fighter pilot with the VF 114 squadron aboard the aircraft carriers Ranger, Hancock, and Kitty Hawk. Together with Ken Mattingly and Gerald Carr, Bull was named on November 20, 1967, to the support crew for the second Apollo crewed flight of the Saturn V, Apollo 8, to assist prime and backup crew members as they trained. Bull was also chosen as Lunar Module Pilot, with James Irwin as Commander, for LTA 8, an environmental qualification test of the Apollo Lunar Module in a vacuum chamber at the Houston Space Environment Simulation Laboratory. Just before the May–June 1968 test, Bull was found to have a severe sinus problem, and was replaced with his backup, a Grumman consulting pilot. Bull was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from pulmonary disease, and resigned from the astronaut corps in July 1968. Following his retirement, he received a job at NASA Ames. Scott A. (born December 30, 1968) and Whitney A. (born August 1, 1971), and four grandchildren.

Bull was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Sigma Tau Engineering Fraternity, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Fraternity, Sigma Xi, American Helicopter Society, and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.