Astronauts

[CastAway 488]

Remind me if the Independent is a QO again? What's the list of QO sources for the DDP?

 

Anyhow, if it is, Independent report of Leonov's death:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/alexei-leonov-death-age-cause-astronaut-spacewalk-dead-a9151921.html

 

Mirror should be a QO though:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/alexei-leonov-dead-85-first-20559970

[Joey Russ 7,228]

He already got a QO, but the independent is no longer a QO since 2017 for the DDP...

[CastAway 488]

1 hour ago, Joey Russ said:

He already got a QO, but the independent is no longer a QO since 2017 for the DDP...

Do you have the link to the list of acceptable QOs? I know it's floating around the forums, but I've lost it somewhere and it isn't linked in the main DDP site...

[Toast 16,142]

25 minutes ago, CastAway said:

Do you have the link to the list of acceptable QOs? I know it's floating around the forums, but I've lost it somewhere and it isn't linked in the main DDP site...

 

It is on the DDP Rules & Scoring page.  Just scroll down a bit.

http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/general/rules_and_scoring.html

 

 

Quote

OBITUARY QUALIFICATION:

There has been a refining of the rules as to what qualifies as a legitimate obit:

To win points, there must be the mention of a celebrity's death on a national online news source:

• BBC:
• all subsections of bbc.co.uk/news (including the previously barred local news areas)
• bbc.co.uk/sport
• bbc.co.uk/newsbeat

Or from the UK versions of the following:

• telegraph.co.uk
• thetimes.co.uk
• ft.com
• theguardian.com
• dailymail.co.uk
• express.co.uk
• dailystar.co.uk
• thesun.co.uk
• mirror.co.uk
• morningstaronline.co.uk
• metro.co.uk
• inews.co.uk

(this excludes references on the death announcements sections of broadsheet websites)

 

...or from these news sites:

• uk.reuters.com
• news.sky.com/uk
• skysports.com
• itv.com/news
• channel4.com/news

The notice of death must be in written English. Video links are only accepted if the strapline mentions the celebs passing.

The following news sources are excluded as from 1st January 2016: Huffington Post UK, MSN UK, Yahoo UK, Scotsman, Herald Scotland, Daily Record, STV and UTV. The Independent has now been removed as of 01/01/2017 as it no longer has a regular print edition. The Evening Standard is not considered as it covers the London area only.

 

 

[msc 18,476]

52 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

It is on the DDP Rules & Scoring page.  Just scroll down a bit.

http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/general/rules_and_scoring.html

 

 

 

 

Yeah but who knows how many of them will be allowed in 2020!

 

 

 

Oh wait, I do. All of them. Sorry, just needlessly worrying folk for a moment..

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

With today's news thought it was time to comprehensively update this list and bring it back into a more prominent position for people's use. First the Americans:

 

On 06/02/2016 at 13:30, RoverAndOut said:

With the death of Edgar Mitchell, I found myself wondering how many of the men on the moon were still going. Having read this entire thread, I see no one has published an up-to-date list in quite some time so, with nothing to do this morning, here goes:

1. Neil Armstrong - Apollo 11, b.1930, d.2012
2. Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin - Apollo 11, b.1930 (aged 89)
3. Pete Conrad - Apollo 12, b.1930, d.1999
4. Alan Bean - Apollo 12, b.1932, d. 2018
5. Alan Shepard - Apollo 14, b.1923, d.1998
6. Edgar Mitchell - Apollo 14, b.1930, d.2016
7. David Scott - Apollo 15, b.1932 (aged 87)
8. James Irwin - Apollo 15, b.1930, d.1991
9. John W. Young - Apollo 16, b.1930, d. 2018
10. Charles Duke - Apollo 16, b.1935 (aged 84)
11. Eugene Cernan - Apollo 17, b.1934 (aged 81)
12. Harrison Schmitt - Apollo 17, b.1935 (aged 84)

While I'm at it, here are the men who flew to the moon (or intended to), but didn't get out:

1. Frank Borman - Apollo 8, b.1928 (aged 91)
2. Jim Lovell - Apollo 8 and 13, b.1928 (aged 91)
3. Bill Anders - Apollo 8, b.1933 (aged 85)
4. Tom Stafford - Apollo 10, b.1930 (aged 89)
5. Michael Collins - Apollo 11, b.1930 (aged 88)
6. Dick Gordon - Apollo 12, b.1929, d. 2017
7. Jack Swigert - Apollo 13, b.1931, d.1982
8. Fred Haise - Apollo 13, b.1933 (aged 85)
9. Stu Roosa - Apollo 14, b.1933, d.1994
10. Al Worden - Apollo 15, b.1932 (aged 87)
11. Ken Mattingley - Apollo 16, b.1936 (aged 83)
12. Ron Evans - Apollo 17, b.1933, d.1990
(John W. Young and Eugene Cernan also flew on Apollo 10, the test run for the Moon landing, but are included among the moonwalkers)

And finally, the pre-Apollo astronauts:

The Mercury Seven
Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, b.1926, d.1967
John Glenn - First American to orbit the Earth, b.1921 (aged 94)
Scott Carpenter - Second orbital Mercury flight, b.1925, d.2013
Walter 'Wally' Schirra, Third orbital Mercury flight, b.1923, d.2007
Gordon 'Gordo' Cooper, Last American to fly in space alone, b.1927, d.2004
Donald 'Deke' Slayton, b.1924, d.1993
(Alan Shepard already listed above)

Project Gemini
16 astronauts took part, 3 Mercury veterans, 11 who took part in Apollo missions to the moon. The only others were:
James A. McDivitt - also part of Apollo 9, b.1929 (aged 90)
Edward H. White - first American to walk in space, b.1930, d.1967

Early Apollo missions
Roger B. Chaffee - Apollo 1, b.1935, d.1967
Walt Cunningham - Apollo 7, b.1932 (aged 87)
Donn Eisele - Apollo 7, b.1930, d.1987
Rusty Schweikart - Apollo 9, b.1935 (aged 83)
(Gus Grissom, Edward H. White, 'Wally' Schirra and David Scott also involved but included elsewhere)

So 7 of the men who walked on the moon are still going, 9 of those who went but didn't get out are still alive and 4 of the early Apollo astronauts are still going. That said, looking at the ages, the next 10-20 years will probably see all of them off sadly. True pioneers.

I've not bothered with the shuttle crews, 1. Because there's so many of them and 2. Because most of them are not really likely to die in the next couple of years. I've also steered clear of the cosmonauts, not because I don't respect them equally but simply because I know virtually nothing about the Russian space program. I'm sure someone better informed could update that list if they wished to. All I know is Valentina Tereshkova is still going strong at 78. Hope someone finds this interesting/useful!

 

Down to just 4 moonwalkers, 8 moon travellers and 3 other early astronauts left. Youngest is 83, oldest is 91. It'll be a busy decade!

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

Now for the Cosmonauts:

 

On 13/02/2016 at 14:33, RoverAndOut said:

As my last post was well received, and since I find myself with a little free time again on a Saturday morning and I was curious, I thought I'd investigate the Russian programs, not least so that the comprehensive up-to-date lists of early astronauts and cosmonauts are close together. While the Russian programs were smaller, it's quite complicated as the Soviets started out with 20 candidates, of which 12 went into space on various programs, along with 3 who weren't in original 20.

 

From tests, 20 candidates were put forward to go to 'Star City' and train and, of these, 6 were selected for accelerated training and were known as the 'Vanguard Six', the Soviet equivalent of America's 'Mercury Seven'. During training, 2 of the 6 were replaced. The eight selected were:

 

Yuri Gargarin - First man in space on Vostok 1, b. 1934, d. 1968

Gherman Titov - First manned mission lasting a full day on Vostok 2, b. 1935, d. 2000

Andriyan Nikolayev - Part of first simultaneous manned flights on Vostok 3, Soyuz 9, b. 1929, d. 2004

Pavel Popovich - Part of first simultaneous manned flights on Vostok 4, b. 1930, d. 2009

Anatoly Kartashov - Suffered minor haemorrhaging in a centrifuge test and was replaced, never flew in space, b. 1932, d. 2005

Valentin Varlamov - Injured a cervical vertebra in a swimming accident during training and was replaced, never flew in space, b. 1934, d. 1980

Valery Bykovsky - Replaced Kartashov; longest solo orbital flight on Vostok 5, also flew on Soyuz 22 and 31, b. 1934, d. 2019

Grigori Nelyubov - Replaced Varlamov; dismissed from program in 1963 for drunk and disorderly conduct and committed suicide three years later, b. 1934, d. 1966

 

Of the remaining 12, 7 more went into space on various programs, as listed below:

 

Vladimir Komarov - Voskhod 1, Soyuz 1, first cosmonaut to go into space more than once, first man to die on a space mission when Soyuz 1 crash landed, b. 1927, d. 1967

Pavel Belyayev - Voskhod 2, b. 1925, d. 1970

Alexey Leonov - Voskhod 2, first spacewalk, Soviet commander of Apollo-Soyuz mission 1975, b. 1934, d. 2019

Yevgeny Khrunov - Soyuz 5/4, b. 1933, d. 2000

Boris Volynov - Soyuz 5, 21, b. 1934 (aged 84)

Georgy Shonin - Soyuz 6, b. 1935, d. 1997

Viktor Gorbatko - Soyuz 7, 24 and 37, b. 1934, d. 2017

 

The remaining 5 selected for initial cosmonaut training were:

 

Ivan Anikeyev - Dismissed from program in 1963 for drunk and disorderly conduct, never flew in space, b. 1933, d. 1992

Valentin Bondarenko - Died due to injuries sustained in a fire during a low pressure isolation experiment, never flew in space, b. 1937, d. 1961

Valentin Filatyev - Dismissed from program in 1963 for drunk and disorderly conduct, never flew in space, b. 1930, d. 1990

Mars Rafikov - Dismissed from program in 1962 for "a variety of offenses, including womanizing and 'gallivanting' in Moscow restaurants, and so forth", never flew in space, b. 1933, d. 2000

Dmitri Zaikin - Backup commander for Voskhod 2, left the space service in 1969 due to stomach ulcers while training for the Soyuz program, never flew in space, b. 1932, d. 2013

 

In addition to this, 3 cosmonauts went into space who were not part of the original 20. These were:

 

Valentina Tereshkova, Vostok 6, first woman in space, b. 1937 (aged 82)

Konstantin Feoktistov - Voskhod 1, first civilian in space, b. 1926, d. 2009

Boris Yegorov - Voskhod 1, first physician in space, b. 1937, d. 1994

 

Knowing where to stop the cosmonaut list is tricky, since the next program, Soyuz, started in 1967 and has continued ever since (which is pretty impressive all things considered). I have decided I will list the first stage of Soyuz, up to the Soyuz 11 disaster in 1971, after which there was a 2 year gap. This roughly correlates with Apollo 17, the last pre-Space Shuttle astronaut mission.

 

(Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 mentioned elsewhere)

Georgy Beregovoy - Soyuz 2, b. 1921, d. 1995

Vladimir Shatalov - Soyuz 4, 8 and 10, b. 1927 (aged 91)

Aleksei Yeliseyev - Soyuz 5/4. 8 and 10, b. 1934 (aged 85)

(Boris Volynov, Soyuz 5/4, 21 mentioned elsewhere)

Valeri Kubasov - Soyuz 6 and 19 (Apollo-Soyuz mission), b. 1935, d. 2014

(Georgy Shonin, Soyuz 6 mentioned elsewhere)

Anatoly Filipchenko - Soyuz 7 and 16, b. 1928 (aged 91)

Vladislav Volkov - Soyuz 7 and 11, b. 1935, d. 1971

(Viktor Gorbatko, Soyuz 7, 24 and 37 mentioned elsewhere)

Vitaly Sevastyanov - Soyuz 9 and 18, b. 1935, d. 2010

(Andriyan Nikolayev, Soyuz 9 mentioned elsewhere)

Nikolay Rukavishnikov - Soyuz 10, 16 and 33, b. 1932, d. 2002

Georgy Dobrovolsky - Soyuz 11, b. 1928, d. 1971

Viktor Patsayev - Soyuz 11, b. 1933, d. 1971

 

Soyuz 11 was the first craft to successfully dock with the Salyut space station. While re-entry was successful, all three cosmonauts were found dead in the capsule after a malfunction caused the capsule to depressurise.

 

So, in summary, one of the accelerated Vanguard Six cosmonauts is still going, 3 of the other early entrants are still living, the first woman in space is still alive and 3 of the other cosmonauts from early Soyuz missions are still pegging. Apologies if this lacks a little of the clarity of the first one, the Soviet side was harder to research accurately and I included a little extra information as I think the cosmonaut program is less well known overall than the astronaut program. Hope it serves its purpose though.

 

Overall then, I make it 21 Americans and 8 Soviets still alive as of February 2016 from missions up to 1972.

 

Two dead this year, including one today. 5 Soviets left from this era, including 2 involved in original cosmonaut training. 

[time 8,617]

Buzz Aldrin is 90 today 

[time 8,617]

On 06/02/2018 at 22:54, Sir Creep said:

A man who claims that Earth is flat tried to leave it in a homemade rocket Saturday but failed to overcome the gravitational force of a 13,166,800,000,000,000,000,000,000-pound sphere directly beneath him.

In fairness to Mike Hughes, he knows how to build a rocket. He built them for many years under the precepts of classical physics, when he was still a relatively conventional daredevil, which is to say, one who believed Earth is round.  But Saturday marked Hughes's third aborted launch since he declared himself a flat-earther last year and announced a multipart plan to fly to space by the end of 2018 so he could prove astronauts have been lying about the shape of the planet.  Hughes blamed technical difficulties — possibly a bad O-ring (snark) — for his steam-powered rocket's failure to ignite this weekend in the Mojave Desert. 
SC

Mad Mike Hughes killed in home-made rocket crash.

[Genfærd 452]

52 minutes ago, time said:

Mad Mike Hughes killed in home-made rocket crash.

There is a video of it. Upon watching it, I'm failing to figure out why he thought that was a brillant idea. 

[Banana 859]

1 hour ago, time said:

Mad Mike Hughes killed in home-made rocket crash.

 

Calling this dude an astronaut is like calling Piers Morgan a journalist.

[Whitehouse 872]

2 hours ago, Genfærd said:

There is a video of it. Upon watching it, I'm failing to figure out why he thought that was a brillant idea. 

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/fatal-crash-of-flat-earthers-steam-powered-rocket-caught-on-video-report/

 

Upon return to earth Mike proved that he himself was flat....

 

Talk about the ultimate face palm. Notice on the left in the video there's a drone. If they just raised it high enough they could have proved the earth is a sphere.

[Sir Creep 7,070]

4 hours ago, time said:

Mad Mike Hughes killed in home-made rocket crash.

Good to see one of my old posts come to life.  

[Spade_Cooley 9,535]

Any other "Mad Mikes" left to die this year?

[YoungWillz 21,054]

48 minutes ago, Spade_Cooley said:

Any other "Mad Mikes" left to die this year?

Heseltine.

[msc 18,476]

Hopefully the Mike mad enough to co-host the DDP is spared though, eh?

[time 8,617]

8 hours ago, Sir Creep said:

Good to see one of my old posts come to life.  

Purely off the back of one of Charon's old posts!

[Spade_Cooley 9,535]

Detroit techno musician "Mad" Mike Banks

Freestyle motocross competitor "Mad" Mike Jones

Hockey pundit "Mad" Mike Milbury

Drift racer "Mad" Mike Whiddett

Sci-fi author "Mad" Mike Z. Williamson

[John Key 747]

10 hours ago, Whitehouse said:

Talk about the ultimate face palm. Notice on the left in the video there's a drone. If they just raised it high enough they could have proved the earth is a sphere.

This guy used being a 'flat earther' as a way to get funds for his endeavours. 

 

He was just a man doing fun dare-devil things, putting only himself in danger. 

[Phantom 2,533]

14 hours ago, Genfærd said:

There is a video of it. Upon watching it, I'm failing to figure out why he thought that was a brillant idea. 

 

well, he was trying to "prove" that the Earth is flat. 
If you really want to have an insight as to how these people think. I would recommend the documentary "Behind The Curve"

 

[Skinny kiltrunner 553]

1 hour ago, Phantom said:

well, he was trying to "prove" that the Earth is flat. 

Who's flat now?

[Deathrace 1,171]

Is it my imagination or based on the details of US astronauts above, it does appear as if astronauts have very good longevity as long as they don't meet an unfortunate occupational demise. Presumably this is largely because you had to be pretty fit and healthy to be selected as an astronaut but is there anything else at play here as most appear to make 85 plus. 

[Banana 859]

5 hours ago, Deathrace said:

Is it my imagination or based on the details of US astronauts above, it does appear as if astronauts have very good longevity as long as they don't meet an unfortunate occupational demise. Presumably this is largely because you had to be pretty fit and healthy to be selected as an astronaut but is there anything else at play here as most appear to make 85 plus. 

Pretty sure astronauts can’t have any genetic conditions that could affect them in space. Therefore they’re normally pretty healthy people. 

[msc 18,476]

Be a bit shit if space did provide longevity.

 

"Old age for you Buzz, old age for you Valentina, sorry Piers I'm shit out of old age here..."

[YoungWillz 21,054]

Astronaut Al Worden, DDP Pick, reportedly dead: https://eu.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2020/03/18/apollo-astronaut-al-worden-who-orbited-the-moon-dies/2865115001/