Col. Robert F. (Bob) Overmyer was born on 14 July 1936 in Lorain, Ohio. He graduated from Westlake High School, Westlake, Ohio, in 1954, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Baldwin Wallace College in 1958. He also earned a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1964 and graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School (test pilot program) in 1966.

Col. Overmyer entered active duty with the Marine Corps in January of 1958. After completing Naval flight training in Kingsville, Texas, he was assigned to Marine Attack Squadron 214 in November 1959. He was later assigned to the Naval Postgraduate School in 1962 to study aeronautical engineering. Upon completion of his graduate studies, he served with the Marine Maintenance Squadron 17 in Iwakuni, Japan. He was then assigned to the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Col. Overmyer was chosen as an astronaut for the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program in 1966. The program was cancelled in 1969. He was then selected as a NASA astronaut in 1969 following the MOL program cancellation. His first assignment with NASA entailed engineering development duties on the Skylab Program from 1969 until November 1971. From November 1971 until December 1972, he served as a support crew member for Apollo 17 and was the launch capsule communicator.

From January 1973 until 1975, he performed as a support crew member of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and was the NASA Capsule Communicator in the mission control center in Moscow, USSR. While with the Apollo-Soyuz Project, Col. Overmyer spent 27 weeks in the USSR training with the Cosmonauts and negotiating the joint training plans. He was then assigned engineering duties on the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Program and was the prime T-38 chase pilot. In 1979 Col. Overmyer was assigned as the Deputy Vehicle Manager of OV-102 (Columbia) in charge of finishing the manufacturing and tiling of Columbia at the Kennedy Space Center. This assignment lasted until he commenced mission-specific training for his first space flight.

Col. Overmyer was the pilot for STS-5, the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle. This flight launched on 11 November 1982. It was the first flight of the Shuttle to launch with a four man crew and to launch large satellites to higher orbit. In addition to launching the satellites, the mission of STS-5 was to continue the flight testing of the Space Shuttle and evaluate the performance of Columbia during launch, orbit, entry, and landing. Other members of the STS-5 crew were Commander Vance Brand and Mission Specialists Joe Allen and Bill Lenoir. STS-5 landed on 16 November 1982, completing 122 hours in space and 81 orbits of the earth.

Col. Overmyer was then named Commander of STS-51B, the seventeenth flight of the Space Shuttle, the Spacelab 3 mission. He commanded a crew of seven. The flight launched on 29 April 1985 from the Kennedy Space Center and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 6 May 1985. Mission 51-B completed 100 orbits of the earth and 168 hours in space. The Spacelab 3 mission conducted a broad range of scientific experiments from space physics to materials processing. STS-51B also had 24 rats and two monkeys onboard.

On his two Space Shuttle flights, Col. Overmyer accumulated 290 hours and 22 minutes in space and orbited the earth a total of 191 times. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Experimental Aircraft Association, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and Association of Space Explorers.

He was awarded the USAF Meritorious Service Medal in 1969 for duties with the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program; received the USMC Meritorious Service Medal in 1978 for duties as the Chief Chase Pilot and support crewman for the Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Program; received an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Baldwin Wallace College, December 1982; was awarded the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School Distinguished Engineers Award, January 1983; the USMC Distinguished Flying Cross and the NASA Space Flight Medal with cluster in 1982 and 1985; and was honored as the first alumnus inductee into the Westlake High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in September, 1991.

After spearheading recovery operations following the Challenger disaster, Col. Overmyer retired from the Astronaut office and the Marine Corps in May of 1986 to commence his own consulting business, Mach Twenty Five International, Inc. He consulted to major aerospace corporations and the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) as well as writing a column for the British Magazine, _Space Flight News_. In March of 1988, he joined the Space Station Team at McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, where he led crew and operations activities for seven years.

He retired from McDonnell Douglas in April 1995 and expanded the scope of Mach Twenty Five International, continuing his aerospace consultation work as well as speaking engagements and writing. With his wife, Kit, and children Carolyn, Patty, and Robert, he enjoyed tennis, golf, and most any athletic activity, especially flying, flying, and flying. In addition to logging air time in both his Mooney and his Starduster Too, he continued to use his test pilot skills and wrote about his flight experiences in "Time In Type", a column published monthly in AOPA Pilot Magazine.

Colonel Overmyer perished in a tragic accident on 22 March 1996, in Duluth, Minnesota, while test flying an experimental kit airplane. He died doing what he loved to do, and we know he would want us to be happy about that. He was a quintessential family man and an inspiration to all who knew him. We have all lived our lives a little bit better because of his example.

He gave his all to every mission. He flew so high, yet he was never out of reach. Most of the time he swooped down and picked us up so we could experience the same lofty heights. Bob would be the first to tell us to dry our tears. But even he cried the day he recovered the bodies of the Challenger crew from the deep.