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Retired NASA astronaut Paul Weitz dies at 85

Retired NASA astronaut Paul Weitz dies at 85
Posted at 7:24 AM, Oct 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-24 08:24:09-04

Retired astronaut Paul Weitz died on Monday at age 85, according to the Associated Press.

Weitz was one of 19 astronauts picked by NASA in April 1966, according to his NASA biography page.

Weitz served as the pilot on the crew of the Skylab-2, which launched on May 25 and ended on June 22, 1973. The crew established the then-world record for minutes logged during a single mission. 

Weitz piloted the first flight of the shuttle Challenger in April 1983. Nearly three years later, Challenger was destroyed and seven crew members were killed during a later launch. 

No cause of death was given, according to AP. Weitz died in his retirement home in Flagstaff, Arizona.