Lachlan Macleay
Lachlan "Mac" Macleay is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and a former USAF astronaut. Although he trained for the USAF Manned Orbital Laboratory, the program was cancelled before any of the MOL crews reached space.
Macleay was born in Saint Louis, Missouri and graduated in 1954 from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. Although a USNA graduate, he chose to begin his career in the United States Air Force. In 1970, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California.
Macleay was a flight instructor in the F-86D at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in Class 60A, Aerospace Research Pilot School Class IV, and MOL. In 1965, Macleay 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.
Macleay continued flying for the Air Force and served a combat tour in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War as commander of the 23rd Tactical Air Support Squadron at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. The 23d TASS, flying the OV-10 Bronco under the callsign Nail, served as forward air controllers directing air strikes against enemy troops.
Macleay retired from the Air Force on May 1, 1978 and joined Hughes Aircraft in Tucson, Arizona where he worked on a series of missile systems. He currently lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The history of the MOL program was presented in the Public Television series NOVA episode called Astrospies which aired February 12, 2008. Several of the MOL astronauts, including Lachlan Macleay, were interviewed for this documentary.
