Portrait of Jim Buchli Courtesy of NASA

Jim Buchli was an American astronaut who was born on June 20, 1945 in North Dakota. Before he became an astronaut, Buchli was Marine pilot in the Vietnam War.

Buchli became an astronaut in 1979. He has made four spaceflights spending over 490 hours in space.

Buchli's first mission was aboard Mission 51-C in 1985. This mission was done by the Department of Defense. Buchli made a second flight in 1985 aboard a German Spacelab mission. The size of the crew of this mission broke a U.S. record with 8 astronauts and scientists aboard.

In 1989, Buchli flew aboard STS-29 where he helped deploy the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. In 1991, he helped deploy the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite on STS-48.