James M. Taylor

Who was James M. Taylor?

James Martin Taylor was a United States Air Force astronaut and test pilot. Although he trained for the USAF Manned Orbital Laboratory, the program was cancelled before any of the MOL crews reached space.

Taylor was born in Stamps, Arkansas and graduated in 1959 from the University of Michigan with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He joined the USAF and trained as a test pilot, graduating from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in class 63A and MOL. In 1965, he was selected as one of the first astronauts to the Air Force's classified Manned Orbital Laboratory. The MOL program, canceled in 1969 before sending any astronauts into space, was to man a military space station with Air Force astronauts using a modified Gemini spacecraft. The history of the MOL program was presented in the Public Television series NOVA episode called Astrospies which first aired February 12, 2008.

After the MOL program cancellation, Taylor continued his USAF career as an instructor at the Test Pilot School and served as deputy commandant.