1935-

American astronaut who contributed to the knowledge of space adaptation syndrome. Schweikart graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1969 he flew on Apollo 9 to perform a two-hour spacewalk to test the lunar spacesuit. Because he became dizzy, Schweikart shortened his spacewalk to half an hour, which was sufficient to assess the spacesuit's capabilities. For Skylab preparations, he served as a medical subject for doctors studying how space affected astronauts. Schweikart later founded the Association of Space Explorers.