SCOTT, DAVID RANDOLPH, 1932-
David R. Scott and Anne Lurton Scott papers, 1962-2019 [bulk: 1962-1972]

Restrictions on Access

Special restrictions apply: Use copies have not been made for audiovisual material in this collection. Researchers must contact the Rose Library at least two weeks in advance for access to these items. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to audiovisual material.

Special restrictions apply: Commercial recordings are not digitized and content is not available due to a risk assessment of copyright restrictions. A list of titles are included in the inventory for researchers to identify the holdings of the creator. These materials are available commercially and can be accessed via other sources.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Related Materials in Other Repositories

The Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) has digitized flight data from the Apollo 15 mission that are not part of Rose Library's collection. That material can be accessed via Readux in the Apollo 15 learning hub.

Source

Gift from Tracy L. Scott, 2021

Custodial History

Tracy L. Scott is the daughter of David R. Scott and Anne Lurton Scott.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], David R. Scott and Anne Lurton Scott papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Curator of Political, Cultural, and Social Movement Collections Randy Gue acquired the collection as part of the Rose Library's holdings in the American experience during the Cold War.

Processing

Arranged and described at the file level by Georgia Archives Institute interns Connie Freightman, Anthony Labat, and Camilla Stegall as well as Laura Starratt, Teelin Lucero, Everet Smith, and Zoë Coblin, October 2022. During the processing of the collection, photographs were grouped within envelopes and dated, but not labeled by the donor. Processing staff removed the photographs from the envelopes and created titles based on the content of the images. While the rest of the collection is arranged alphabetically, processing staff arranged the photographs in chronological order since those dates are confirmed by the donor.

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Biographical Note

Colonel David Randolph Scott (June 6, 1932- ) is a retired test pilot and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 15 mission.

Scott was born at Randolph Field Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. His father was Tom William Scott (1902-1988), a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Corps, and his mother was Marian (Davis) Scott (1906-1998). Scott attended the Texas Military Institute (San Antonio) from 1941-1944, Riverside Polytechnic High School (California) from 1946-1948, and graduated from Western High School (Washington, D.C.) in 1949. He accepted a swimming scholarship to the University of Michigan (Anne Arbor) and majored in engineering. In the spring of 1950, he received and accepted an invitation to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point (New York). He graduated in 1954, 5th in his class of 633, with a Bachelor of Science degree in military science and was commissioned in the Air Force.

In his pursuit of becoming a test pilot, he earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics/Astronautics and the degree of Engineer in Aeronautics/Astronautics (the E.A.A. degree) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge) in 1962. When Scott reported to the United States Air Force Test Pilot School (Edwards, California), he had the opportunity to fly with Chuck Yeager, the commandant of the school and first person to break the sound barrier. He graduated top pilot in his class and was selected for the Aerospace Research Pilot School (Edwards, California) where those intended as Air Force astronauts were trained.

Scott was selected to fly with Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8, which was launched into space on March 16, 1966, but there were mechanical problems, and the mission lasted only ten hours. Scott served as command module pilot for Apollo 9. Due to his performance during these missions, he was named backup commander of Apollo 12. This allowed him to sit in the Mission Control room as Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Scott, along with Al Worden and James Irwin, were named the prime crew of Apollo 15. Apollo 15 launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A (Merritt Island, Florida) on July 26, 1971, and landed on the Moon on July 30, 1971. Scott and Irwin took samples of the lunar surface, including "Great Scott," a moon rock named after him. Apollo 15 returned to Earth on August 7, 1971.

He began working as a special assistant on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint mission with the Soviet Union, in 1972, where he met the commander of the Soviet part of the mission, Alexei Leonov. In 1973, he became the deputy direct of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California). In 1975 he became the center’s director. This was a civilian appointment, and in order to accept it, he retired from the Air Force in March 1975. He retired from NASA in 1977.

In 1959 Scott married his first wife, Anne Lurton Ott. Lurton - as she preferred to be addressed - was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1938, while her mother, Sara Claire "Ripple" Ott, was traveling. Her father, Ike Ott, a retired Air Force General, spent the first eight years of Lurton's life in Europe during World War II. Lurton was raised in San Antonio, Texas, until she left to attend Mary Washington College (Fredericksburg, Virginia). They had two children, Tracy (1961-) and Douglas (1963-).

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of correspondence, personal papers, official NASA materials, images, audiovisual items, and memorabilia collected by Tracy L. Scott from 1956-2019. The collection documents her family’s experiences during her father’s career as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut from 1963-1973. It also includes material about the Apollo 9 mission in March 1969 and the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. NASA training materials, photographs, and flight plans document the Gemini 8, Apollo 9, and Apollo 15 missions, as well as invitations and materials pertaining to their respective launches.

Correspondence between the Scotts, friends, family, and well-wishers documents the private life of the Scott family, public perception of astronauts during the 1960s-1970s, and the U.S. reaction to crewed space missions and moon landings. There are also many personal photographs and slides of the Scott family and of David Scott’s training missions. Photographs and materials from domestic and international appearances undertaken by the astronauts and their families after the space missions, particularly following the Apollo 15 landing, include a 1972 American Embassy tour through Warsaw, Zagreb, and Belgrade, and a dinner at the White House with Richard Nixon. Newspaper clippings, serials, and promotional materials relating to David Scott’s career as well as profiles of Anne Lurton Scott are included. Other notable figures who appear in the collection are fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim McDivitt, Russell Schweickart, Al Worden, and James Irwin, as well as Richard and Pat Nixon.

Arrangement Note

Arranged in alphabetical order by record type. Photographs are arranged together in chronological order within the list.