Background
Jones was born in Clinton, Indiana.
Jones was born in Clinton, Indiana.
He graduated from Wichita High School East in 1970 and earned a bachelor of science in astronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1974.
He entered the United States Air Force Manned Spaceflight Engineer program in 1982, and was scheduled to fly on mission STS-71-Bachelor in December 1986, but the mission was cancelled after the Challenger Disaster in January 1986. He left the Manned Spaceflight Engineer program in 1987. He was killed at the age of 48 in the attacks of September 11, 2001, aboard American Airlines Flight 11.
He had been living as a retired United States Air Force Colonel in Bedford, Massachusetts, at the time of his death.
At the National 9/11 Memorial, Jones is memorialized at the North Pool, on Panel North-74.