Astronaut David R. Scott to Receive Charles McCaffree Award from CSCAA
Astronaut and test pilot Dr. David R. Scott is the 2025 winner of the Charles McCaffree Award from the College Swim Coaches Association of America.
Scott swam at the United States Military Academy at West Point before a career as an astronaut with NASA, a test pilot and the seventh person to walk on the Moon as part of Apollo 15.
Scott, 92, was born in San Antonio and swam at Riverside Technical High School in California. He was raised in a military family, his father Tom William Scott a fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps and a general in the United States Air Force. Scott began his college career as a swimmer at the University of Michigan before transferring to West Point, where he was an All-American who set a school record in the 300-yard medley relay. He graduated in 1954, fifth in his class of 633.
He was commissioned to the Air Force, flying fighter jets during the Cold War. He received master’s and engineer’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, allowing him to be part of NASA’s third group of prospective astronauts in 1963.
His first voyage to space was a pilot of Gemini 8 in 1966, orbiting earth alongside Neil Armstrong. He flew the command module on Apollo 9 in 1969, then served as the commander on Apollo 15, his third and final spaceflight. He spent three days on the Moon in 1971, using the lunar roving vehicle, exploring the geology of the Moon and famously demonstrating Galileo’s theory about objects in a vacuum ling at the same rate in the absence of air resistance.
Scott logged 546 hours and 54 minutes in space, including 20 hours of extravehicular activity. He retired as an Air Force colonel in 1975 and late served as the director of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. (It would later be renamed for his former crewmate, Armstrong.) Scott was awarded two NASA Distinguished Service Medals, two Air Force Distinguished Service Medals and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale Gold Medal.
The Charles McCaffree Award recognizes, “an individual connected with the sport of collegiate swimming and diving who has achieved outstanding success outside of the pool.” The award will be given at the CSCAA Annual Meetings and Awards Celebration in Raleigh, N.C., May 4-6.
