Astronauts

[VileBody 11]

Just following up my thought from the James Doohan thread - anyone know many of the original (ie up to Apollo) astronauts are left - they must be pushing on a bit.

[Death Watch Beatle 41]

If it is the original astronauts you are interested in, they would be the Mercury Seven. Following them were the Gemini crews, then came the Apollos. Is it the Apollo "men on the moon" you are looking for - ie Neil Armstrong onwards?

 

dwbeatle

[Death Watch Beatle 41]

The Mercury Seven were:

 

* Scott Carpenter

* L. Gordon Cooper

* John H. Glenn Jr.

* Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom

* Walter H. "Wally" Schirra Jr.

* Alan B. Shepard Jr.

* Donald K. "Deke" Slayton

 

and a brief biog. of each of them can be found here:

 

http://space.about.com/od/spaceexploration...jectmercury.htm

 

HTH

 

DWB

[Magere Hein 1,400]

More interesting might be how many of the original Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts are still around - a few of them must be mid/late 70's by now.  Does anyone know of a relevant link? 

All you wanted to know about US (and some foreign) astronauts: NASA Astronaut Factbook. Contains biographical data on astronauts, but no table by birth date.

 

The same information can be found browsable on the NASA web site.

 

[Moderator: please merge to "Astronauts" thread - Done:Teddy]

 

regards,

Hein

Edited June 18, 2005 by Teddy

[football_fan 42]

The Mercury program was the first manned space effort by the United States. Of the 7 original astronauts, only 3 are still alive today.

 

Dead

• L. Gordon Cooper (natural causes) Mar 6th, 1927 - Oct 4th, 2004
  
• Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom (Apollo I accident) Mar 3rd, 1926 – Jan 27th, 1967
  
• Alan B. Shepard Jr. (cancer) Nov 18th, 1923 – July 21st, 1998
  
• Donald K. "Deke" Slayton (cancer) Mar 1st, 1924 – Jun 13th, 1993
  

Alive

• Scott Carpenter – born May 1st, 1925
  
• Walter H. "Wally" Schirra Jr - born Mar 12th, 1923
  
• Senator John Glenn – born Jul 18th, 1921
  

Our Russian readers will probably disagree with the significance of the Mercury program, as they were the first ones to have a manned mission into space.

 

Regards,

 

ff

[Banshees Scream 110]

[*]Senator John Glenn – born Jul 18th, 1921

Ideas Ideas.....

[football_fan 42]

[*]Senator John Glenn – born Jul 18th, 1921

Ideas Ideas.....

He is on my 2005 ddp list.

[VileBody 11]

I thought the Mercury/Gemini and Apollo ones were worth a look - or at least maybe the Apollos that actually landed on the moon. I suppose Glenn is the obvious one of the Mercury Seven (and yes I saw and read The Right Stuff too!) - being oldest and most famous. Never realised Shepherd was dead.

[maryportfuncity 10,673]

Aye, but like authors and formula one champions these astronauts seem to go on. For what it's worth the whole Apollo 11 crew Armstrong/Aldrin/Collins are still alive.

[Gunjaman5000 32]

Is Major Tom still around?

[VileBody 11]

Aye, but like authors and formula one champions these astronauts seem to go on. For what it's worth the whole Apollo 11 crew Armstrong/Aldrin/Collins are still alive.

Yes - it's certainly like sports persons (not sure about authors) - I suppose because unlike say politicians, military people etc they tend to become famous quite young and also to be pretty fit and healthy by definition (and unlike your average drunk writer...) so they seem to be around for ages.

[Lady Die 63]

Info on Apollo astronauts...

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/astronauts/

 

Thought it was a coincidence that all three on Apollo 1 died in the same year, then remembered that was the one that blew up on the launchpad.

 

Might be worth putting a Space Shuttle astronaut on the list as they get blown up with alarming regularity.

[Dr Strangelove 14]

Info on Apollo astronauts...

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/astronauts/

Thought it was a coincidence that all three on Apollo 1 died in the same year, then remembered that was the one that blew up on the launchpad.

Erm no.

They died when there capsule caught fire during training; it was only decided to name this "Apollo 1" afterwards.

[Lady Die 63]

Info on Apollo astronauts...

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.prillinger/astronauts/

Thought it was a coincidence that all three on Apollo 1 died in the same year, then remembered that was the one that blew up on the launchpad.

Erm no.

They died when there capsule caught fire during training; it was only decided to name this "Apollo 1" afterwards.

My memory let me down on that one (but I was only a little kid at the time)

[Lady Die 63]

The Space Shuttle is all set for launch again. Hope they've ironed out all the problems.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4716463.stm

[Bald rick 9]

It would appear so:

 

Shuttle blasts off

[maryportfuncity 10,673]

The last one lifted off. It was the coming down in the form of a jigsaw that bothered NASA.

[Boudicca 702]

The last one lifted off. It was the coming down in the form of a jigsaw that bothered NASA.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

The last one lifted off. It was the coming down in the form of a jigsaw that bothered NASA.

Apparently unscheduled bits fell off during launch.

 

Again. See: BBC News.

 

Could be an interesting reentry.

 

Again.

 

regards,

Hein

[Lady Die 63]

They are due back on 7th August .... watch this space

[Dr Strangelove 14]

The last one lifted off. It was the coming down in the form of a jigsaw that bothered NASA.

And the crew.

[Cowboy Ronnie 78]

From the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_2892632

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"One object, about 1½ inches long, appeared to have sheared off an insulating tile over the landing-gear door in the nose, said John Shannon, the space shuttle flight operations manager. Shannon said it was not yet possible to know the depth of the hole it left and added, "Depth is everything when you look at any kind of tile damage."

 

The second image is even more mysterious: It shows something falling away from the shuttle about two minutes into the flight, when the shuttle shed the solid rocket boosters that start its ascent into orbit.

 

"The big question is, 'What is that?"' Shannon asked.

 

But overall, spirits were high ......"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Comforting question there from the flight operations manager. Let's hope the crew can't access the internet in space or else they might be getting worried.

 

Let's see - 113 missions, 2 crashes, or a 1.8 percent chance of dying every time a shuttle takes off. Is there a profession with a higher fatality rate?

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Let's see - 113 missions, 2 crashes, or a 1.8 percent chance of dying every time a shuttle takes off. Is there a profession with a higher fatality rate?

Iraqi Police Chief?

 

Kazakhstani President?

 

Pope?

[Lady Die 63]

Let's see - 113 missions, 2 crashes, or a 1.8 percent chance of dying every time a shuttle takes off.  Is there a profession with a higher fatality rate?

Iraqi Police Chief?

 

Kazakhstani President?

 

Pope?

The job of Pope has 100% mortality rate - they always die in office

[Anubis the Jackal 77]

Let's see - 113 missions, 2 crashes, or a 1.8 percent chance of dying every time a shuttle takes off.  Is there a profession with a higher fatality rate?

Iraqi Police Chief?

 

Kazakhstani President?

 

Pope?

The job of Pope has 100% mortality rate - they always die in office

My point in a nutshell.