The Immortal

Side effects of being death-starved, I suppose.

Pete Theisinger, ex-NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer and project manager who lead the Mars rover missions, dead.

That's what happened to Mike Beuttler (1970s driver, in the period where F1 was a symbol of machismo.). He would bring girls to races with him to avoid speculation. He disappeared off public life because of HIV/AIDS (which eventually killed him) and the stigma that surrounded it.

Not really, there have been bigger death clusters I can recall. December 2016. Richard Adams, Liz Smith, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, Debbie Reynolds, William Christopher in the span of a week.

I remember how distraught Shannen was when Luke Perry died, Shannen said she was the one that should have gone and not Luke. I can imagine she must have been at peace at the end knowing she would be reunited with Luke again.

The crashes Gordon Johncock suffered in his career combined with old age have taken it's toll and he has difficulty breathing now. Another source says he has only one lung properly functioning so he doesn't attend IndyCar races to avoid potential lung infections. https://99wfmk.com/gordon-johncock-of-hastings/ Someone on X met NASCAR driver Bobby Allison in February 2024 and took a photo with him, in a wheelchair but otherwise seems to be alright. I might note that Allison is another racer who suffers from the long term effects of a severe racing crash.

Seems like his condition worsened and he was hospitalized again in June, no clue if he is still there.

In all honesty it's a sad situation to see how political extremism on both parties has divided the U.S. I visit the U.S often and these days even so much as having a friend who supports the other political party is enough to get you shunned by even your family or spouse, at least that's what not too long ago happened to a friend of mine who's family berated her for having a friend who supports Republican. If only more people could put aside their political differences, and see and get to know people for who they are and not their political affliation, the country (actually, the world) would be a better place.

A good many, even from the early pre-Challenger missions. It's the Apollo and Skylab era astronauts that have been dying off.

He was the last X-15 pilot and STS-2 crew member (Dick Truly having died a couple months ago, and yes that is in fact his real name.)

As did Joe Engle, a hit for me.

My personal immortal Ira "Ike" Schab turned 104 a few days ago. Not too shabby (or rather Schabby, in this case.) I must say, considering he was hospitalized several times for pneumonia and once for COVID-19 in his centenarian years and made his "dying wish" three years ago. Doesn't seem to be any recent news except he has extremely poor eyesight now according to his daughter and Schab himself remains alert.

Bengt I. Samuelsson is my first hit.

Well this is an unexpected surprise. Back to back hits for me with Bengt I. Samuelsson (unique pretty sure) and Jane McAlevey (huge replacement name).

No regrets on my part. The day I changed my profile pic, that decision was already made. I don't regret not replacing him with the human Chauchat (Jayapataka) either.