Greg Jarvis was selected as a payload specialist candidate in July 1984. Chosen from over 600 engineer applicants from Hughes Aircraft. His initial launch date was delayed twice and he reentered training in November 1985, preparing to fly the STS 51-L mission.

His duties on Challenger 51-L were to conduct fluid dynamics experiments that would have tested the reactions of satellite propellants to various shuttle maneuvers and simulated spacecraft movements.

Jarvis entered the Air Force in July 1969, as a second lieutenant assigned to the space division in El Segundo, California. After leaving active duty in 1973 with the rank of captain, he joined the Hughes Aircraft Space and Communications group as a communications subsystem engineer. In 1982, he was named assistant spacecraft system engineering manager.

A 1967 graduate of State University of New York in Buffalo with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. In 1969, Jarvis earned his master's degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in Boston.

Greg Jarvis was born August 24, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan. He is survived by his wife, the former Marcia G. Jarboe.