Akers was the valedictorian of his 29-member 1969 senior class from Eminence, Missouri. He worked summers as a park ranger in the 80,000 acre federal wilderness that borders Eminence. He graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Applied Mathematics in 1973 and 1975, respectively. At the age of 24 he returned to Eminence to become its math teacher, and subsequently its high school principal. In 1979, when a United States Air Force recruiter left brochures on his desk for his students, it was Akers who decided to sign up. He was selected for the astronaut program in 1987 and officially became an astronaut in 1988. As part of his training with NASA, Akers taught science classes at Troy State University for a brief period of time.
NASA career
Akers is a veteran of four shuttle flights in which he spent over 800 hours in orbit, including more than 29 hours of extra-vehicular activity experience. In each of his flights, his role was as a mission specialist. His first space flight was in 1990 on STS-41, the 11th flight of Space ShuttleDiscovery. He was instrumental in deploying the European Space AgencysatelliteUlysses, a solar-exploration craft, as well as tending several secondary payloads and experiments. His next mission was in 1992 on STS-49, the maiden flight of Shuttle Endeavour. A primary goal of that mission was to capture and repair the non-functional IntelsatVI-F3 satellite. The first two attempts failed; Akers joined the third attempt which was successful. This marks the first three-person EVA in human history and was also the longest EVA ever conducted to that time. As of January, 2004, it is now the second longest EVA, and is still the only instance of a three-person EVA. On Akers' third mission in 1993 on STS-61, the fifth flight of Endeavour, he was one of four mission specialists who repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope on its first servicing mission. Akers spent just under 13.5 hours outside the Endeavour in two EVAs. On May 18, 1994, Akers appeared on Home Improvement as himself along with rest of the STS-61 crew. His last mission was in 1996 on STS-79, the 17th flight of shuttle Atlantis. This was the fourth shuttle flight to rendezvous with the Russian space stationMir and the first to exchange U.S. astronauts with Mir, returning Shannon Lucid to earth and leaving John Blaha.
