Update: Sandra Prow has informed me that a scholarship has been set up by Ron's family in his name. Information is at the bottom of the ARRL web page.
CollectSpace is reporting that Ron Parise, Shuttle astronaut and astronomer, has died at the age of 56. Damnation. He flew twice; both times as a Payload Specialist for the two UV Astro missions. But I knew Ron. He worked across the hall from me at Goddard Space Flight Center. I really liked him; as busy as he always was he still took the time to answer a dumb question or two from me about Shuttle flight. He also did a great debunking of the claims that Shuttle videos from STS 48 showed UFOs; he showed conclusively that these were ice particles outside the window being affected by the vernier jets from the Shuttle. Damnation.
