Vance D. Brand

E186835

NASA astronaut aerospace engineer human military officer test pilot

Vance D. Brand is a former NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer who flew on multiple Space Shuttle missions and served as command module pilot on the historic Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Vance D. Brand canonical	15
Vance Brand	1
Vance D. Brand – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1583751 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Vance D. Brand
Context triple: [STS-41B, commander, Vance D. Brand]

A. Joe Engle
Joe Engle is an American astronaut and test pilot best known for flying the X-15 rocket plane and commanding early Space Shuttle missions.
B. James E. Webb
James E. Webb was an American government official who served as NASA’s second administrator, overseeing key early space missions during the 1960s.
C. James A. Van Allen
James A. Van Allen was an American space scientist best known for discovering the Earth's radiation belts, now called the Van Allen belts, and for his pioneering work in early space exploration missions.
D. Fred Haise
Fred Haise is an American astronaut and test pilot best known as the lunar module pilot on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission.
E. Ken Mattingly
Ken Mattingly was a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy rear admiral best known for his roles in the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, including serving as command module pilot on Apollo 16.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Vance D. Brand
Target entity description: Vance D. Brand is a former NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer who flew on multiple Space Shuttle missions and served as command module pilot on the historic Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

A. Joe Engle
Joe Engle is an American astronaut and test pilot best known for flying the X-15 rocket plane and commanding early Space Shuttle missions.
B. James E. Webb
James E. Webb was an American government official who served as NASA’s second administrator, overseeing key early space missions during the 1960s.
C. James A. Van Allen
James A. Van Allen was an American space scientist best known for discovering the Earth's radiation belts, now called the Van Allen belts, and for his pioneering work in early space exploration missions.
D. Fred Haise
Fred Haise is an American astronaut and test pilot best known as the lunar module pilot on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission.
E. Ken Mattingly
Ken Mattingly was a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy rear admiral best known for his roles in the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, including serving as command module pilot on Apollo 16.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	NASA astronaut ⓘ aerospace engineer ⓘ human ⓘ military officer ⓘ test pilot ⓘ
awardReceived	NASA Distinguished Service Medal ⓘ NASA Exceptional Service Medal ⓘ NASA Space Flight Medal ⓘ
countryOfCitizenship	United States of America ⓘ
dateOfBirth	1931-05-09 ⓘ
educatedAt	U.S. Naval Postgraduate School ⓘ linked to: Naval Postgraduate School University of Colorado Boulder ⓘ
employer	National Aeronautics and Space Administration ⓘ linked to: NASA
familyName	Brand ⓘ
fieldOfWork	aerospace engineering ⓘ astronautics ⓘ
givenName	Vance ⓘ
hasFlownOnVehicle	Apollo Command/Service Module ⓘ linked to: Apollo command and service module Space Shuttle Challenger ⓘ Space Shuttle Columbia ⓘ Space Shuttle Discovery ⓘ
languageSpoken	English ⓘ
militaryBranch	United States Marine Corps ⓘ
militaryRank	Colonel, United States Marine Corps Reserve ⓘ
notableAchievement	flew on multiple Space Shuttle missions ⓘ served as command module pilot on the historic Apollo–Soyuz Test Project ⓘ
notableFor	participation in U.S.–Soviet space cooperation ⓘ role in early Space Shuttle program ⓘ
notableWork	participation in the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first joint U.S.–Soviet space mission ⓘ
occupation	aerospace engineer ⓘ astronaut ⓘ fighter pilot ⓘ test pilot ⓘ
placeOfBirth	Longmont, Colorado, United States ⓘ
residence	Colorado, United States ⓘ linked to: Colorado
roleInMission	command module pilot on Apollo–Soyuz Test Project ⓘ commander of STS-35 ⓘ commander of STS-41-B ⓘ commander of STS-5 ⓘ
selectedAsAstronautBy	NASA Astronaut Group 5 ⓘ
selectionYearAsAstronaut	1966 ⓘ
sexOrGender	male ⓘ
spaceMission	Apollo–Soyuz Test Project ⓘ STS-35 ⓘ STS-41-B ⓘ linked to: STS-41B STS-5 ⓘ linked to: STS-5 with Columbia
status	retired ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (17)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

STS-41B → commander → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project → crewMember → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

Apollo 15 → backupCommandModulePilot → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

STS-5 → crewMember → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

subject linked to: STS-5 with Columbia

STS-5 → commander → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

subject linked to: STS-5 with Columbia

NASA Astronaut Group 6 → member → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

NASA Astronaut Group 6 → memberFlewOnMission → Vance D. Brand – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project ⓘ

linked to: Vance D. Brand

Vance Brand Airport → namedAfter → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

NASA Astronaut Group 5 → member → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

STS-35 → commander → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

Apollo spacecraft CSM-111 → crewTransportFor → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

STS-41-B → crewMember → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

subject linked to: Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-41-B

STS-41-B → commander → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

subject linked to: Space Shuttle Challenger mission STS-41-B

The Original 19 → member → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

STS-5 → missionCommander → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

subject linked to: Vance D. Brand – STS-5

NASA Astronaut Group 7 → member → Vance D. Brand ⓘ

LMO → namedAfter → Vance Brand ⓘ