Christian Fighter Pilot, Astronaut Speaks at USAFA

As noted earlier, STS-131 pilot LtCol James Dutton was the top 1991 USAFA graduate, flew the F-22 as a test pilot, and is also a Christian and member of OCF.  On May 7th Dutton spoke to a dining out of the USAFA Astro department faculty and cadets.  Col Marty France, the Astro department head, had high praise for Dutton:

Col. Jim Dutton is exactly the kind of officer every cadet in this room should aspire to be…Jim stood out even then as a cadet whom we knew would go on to do good things… No one who taught in the department back then is the least bit surprised by his success, but all of us are proud of what he’s done, and I couldn’t think of a better person to motivate you and tell you about what’s ahead as you graduate in the next few days.

With the pending retirement of the shuttle, Dutton will be one of the last to have flown it.