Ever wonder what happened to Steve and Jamie?

RIP, Six Million Dollar Man

The following obituary recently appeared in the "Ojai Valley News," Ojai, California.

Former Astronaut, Test Pilot Dies

Ojai native Air Force Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Steven Austin died at his home in Arlington, Virginia on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 73.

A boyhood love of aviation led Steve Austin into the Air Force, where he became a noted test pilot. In 1966 he became an astronaut with the Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory project, but returned to test pilot duties when the project was cancelled in 1969. He subsequently achieved operational astronaut status in 1971 with a suborbital flight of the M2F5 lifting body prototype. The flight ended in near tragedy when the aircraft crashed, critically injuring Austin.

Over the next two years the seemingly hopelessly injured pilot made a miraculous recovery to full health, with the aid of experimental medical treatments from the United States Office of Scientific Investigation. The nature of these treatments has never been made public. Austin subsequently joined the OSI and served as a special aide to OSI director Oscar Goldman. There were rumors over the years that he undertook a number of still-classified missions for the OSI, including, in some reports, several subsequent journeys into orbit.

In 1976 his fiancée, fellow Ojai native and tennis pro Jamie Sommers, was critically injured in a skydiving accident. She was subsequently also the recipient of experimental medical care from the OSI, and also became an OSI operative for several years. The couple subsequently married and had three children.

In the early 1980s Col. Austin retired from OSI service when his health and mobility underwent a major decline, reportedly due to the long-term failure of his experimental treatments. Jamie Sommers Austin later developed similar problems to a somewhat lesser extent. Austin spent some years as a consultant in the aerospace industry.

During the final decade of his life Austin was confined to a wheelchair and had the use of only one arm, but reportedly maintained a positive outlook. “I got ten years of full health and forty years of life more than I should have had,” he said shortly before his death. “That’s plenty to be thankful for.”

Retired OSI director Oscar Goldman stated upon receiving the news of Col. Austin’s death: “Steve Austin was an authentic American hero. I don’t think the public yet understands just how much of a hero he truly was. Hopefully the time will come when his contributions can be fully acknowledged.”

Colonel Austin’s funeral is scheduled at Ojai United Methodist Church on Saturday. He will be buried with full military honors.

Johnny Carson: I saw Lee Majors the other day---he looked like a million bucks. [Pause] Man, has he let it go!

They can rebuild him.

They have the technology.