Astronauts

[The Immortal 634]

Astronaut Don Lind passed away. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-090222a-astronaut-don-lind-obituary.html.

[Sir Creep 7,070]

22 hours ago, TheSpinosaurus said:

Astronaut Don Lind passed away. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-090222a-astronaut-don-lind-obituary.html.

Seeing as his Shuttle mission was cancelled, wouldn’t he just be Naut Don Lind?

[time 8,586]

Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent the longest continuous period in space (437 days), has died aged 80.

[Whitehouse 872]

In my eyes a superstar.

[The Immortal 634]

Dutch-American chemical engineer/astronaut Lodewijk van den Berg dead according to several Dutch articles. He flew on the Space Shuttle Challenge on the mission STS-51-B. He's the 3rd member of that crew to die within the last year. His death leaves only Frederick Gregory, Norman Thagard and Taylor Wang alive from the STS-51-B crew and all three men are in their 80's now.  Interestingly enough the STS-51-B crew had the oldest average age of a crew for any American space mission at 48.6 years.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

Jim McDivitt, DDP Pick, reportedly dead aged 93: 

 

[Szabaka 93]

Astronaut James McDivitt, Who Commanded Apollo 9 Mission, Dies

[TQR 14,384]

Two legend have left us. RIP James and Jim.

[YoungWillz 21,024]

James/Jim/Jimmy/Jimboooo/Jamesy McDivitt QO if not noted already @gcreptile: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11326255/Astronaut-James-McDivitt-Apollo-9-commander-dies-93.html

[arghton 6,695]

Here are some old Cosmonauts last year. Already around 18 months old but still posting, as these haven't been talked about much:

 

 

From left to right:

1. Unknown

2. Aleksei Yeliseyev. Soyuz 5, 8 and 10, made the world's eighth spacewalk. Now 88, has looked decrepit for years.

3. Yelena Gagarina, daughter of Yuri Gagarin.

4. Boris Volynov. 86 when this picture was taken, seems to be in great health for a 87-year-old and has made appearances this year, considered the last surviving member of the original group of cosmonauts.

5. I think that's Vladimir Aksyonov, behind Volynov. Flight Engineer on Soyuz 22 and Soyuz T-2. Looks quite unrecognizable to what he looked a decade ago though.

6. Viktor Savinykh. Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-4, Soyuz T-13 and Soyuz TM-5.

7. Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, behind Savinykh, Flight Engineer on Soyuz 29 and Soyuz T-6. Looks fine.

8. the mayor of Moscow

9. Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov, Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-9, Soyuz TM-3.

10. Probably Vladimir Dzhanibekov behind him, Soyuz 27/Soyuz 26, Soyuz 39, Soyuz T-6, Soyuz T-12, Soyuz T-13.

11. Possibly Tamara Titova, widow of Gherman Titov (1935-2000) of Vostok 2.

 

Svetlana Savitskaya was also there as was apparently Aleksandr Laveykin who I didn't see in these pictures. Valery Ryumin and Anatoli Filipchenko weren't there and have since died.

Some others who weren't there include Valentin Lebedev, Pyotr Klimuk (seems to live in Belarus? Anyways his 80th birthday was a while ago and in new images he looks like he could easily win the local Robbie Coltrane lookalike contest), Vitaly Zholobov (lives or lived in Ukraine, Kherson to be precise, reported to be suffering from some health issues in 2020), Vyacheslav Zudov, Vladimir Kovalyonok (obese but seems to be doing fine), Yuri Romanenko and Leonid Popov.

[The Immortal 634]

I have just recently discovered that two Shuttle-era astronauts don't seem to be in the best of health and who you might want to keep on your radar.

 

Samuel Durrance was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a year ago and in recent photos he is definitely frail and appears to only be able to walk short distances, using a wheelchair otherwise. Samuel is a payload specialist who flew on two Shuttle missions. John Blaha has become rather frail now and doesn't plan on being in many events anymore due to this, according to a friend in one of my space chat groups who met and spoke with him recently. John flew on several Shuttle missions and most notably spent 4 months in space aboard the Mir space station.

 

I'm not too sure on Durrance getting an obit but then again Millie Hughes-Fulford and Lodewjik Van Den Berg got obits and they are both payload specialists. John Blaha on the other hand would definitely get obits.

 

The early shuttle-era astronauts are definitely an aging bunch, I plan on doing a detailed investigation on their status soon and will update you when I have finished it.

[arghton 6,695]

Image of ancient NASA guy William R. Lucas on his 100th earlier this year:

 

Some mentions of cosmonauts of the Soviet Space Program:

Phạm Tuân, Vietnam's cosmonaut looks fine for a man his age in this interview. Arnaldo Tamayo is another who's doing very good and doesn't look 80 at all. Bulgaria's Georgi Ivanov seems to be doing great for 82 and makes frequent public appearances. Mirosław Hermaszewski also seems to be doing great, and so seem nearly all of the others of the 70s-80s cosmonauts, Savitskaya, Alexander Volkov, Musa Manarov, Krikalyov... Don't think much of them will die during the next years excluding some of the ones mentioned in my last post.

[The Immortal 634]

After some time and effort, I have finished my early Space Shuttle era Astronaut status investigation.

 

The early Space Shuttle era astronauts in my definition are those from NASA Astronaut Group 7 to NASA Astronaut Group 9, the "Class of 1980" as they were all selected before the actual first flight of the Space Shuttle and flew during the early flights. Also included will be payload specialists that were selected by certain organizations to deliver specific payloads.

 

NASA Astronaut Group 7

 

Out of 7 people in this group, only 3 are alive.

 

Karol Bobko - From a rather recent public appearance I would say he is in decent shape.

Bob Crippen - Doing very well for his age, still quite active and involved, appears to be the healthiest of the 3 too.

Richard Truly - Has not been around much, did appear in the Challenger Final Flight documentary where another DeathLister said he seemed frail.

 

NASA Astronaut Group 8 "Thirty Five New Guys"

 

Out of 35 astronauts in this group, 25 are still alive and I was actually surprised to see so many of the TFNGs were still around. Because of the amount of astronauts from this group still alive, I am going to filter out those I know for sure are healthy, active and certain to be around for a while so whatever names that are missing are basically not immediate DL potential. Anyway let's move on.

 

John Creighton - John Creighton is an interesting case, he seemed to be actively involved in public life until Oct 2019 after which he suddenly stopped making public appearances, no virtual appearances or anything like that either. When someone active in public life suddenly disappears off the radar like this it's normally not a good sign.

Frederick Hauck - 81 years old. Definitely a bit frail in the last public appearance I could find of him also back in 2019 but unlike Creighton has not been active.

Loren Shriver - Frail, but still making appearances and giving interviews on occasion.

James Buchli - Didn't look great in a recent virtual appearance.

John Fabian - At 83 years old he is the oldest member of the group. He's not been around too much though looks to be doing okay. Interestingly enough John is on the Kennedy Space Center "Meet an astronaut" calendar for December 29, 2022 to January 02, 2023, we will see how that goes.

Mike Mullane - Though he's still quite active I have definitely noticed him getting frailer within the last year or so. Probably most notable for the creation of his book "Riding Rockets".

Robert Stewart - No news for years, last known photo I could find of him dates back to 2016 where he seemed to be doing fine but still it's quite a while ago.

Norman Thagard - Still somewhat around, attending events every once in a while. Looking frail now though.

James van Hoften - Again no news for years, last info I could find of him was back in 2009 where he moved to the UK to work in the board of directors for Gatwick Airport. 

 

NASA Astronaut Group 9 "Class Of 1980"

 

Majority of this group are still alive so once again filters are to be applied here.

 

John Blaha - As mentioned earlier, he is rather frail now and has mostly stepped down from public appearances and events.

Ronald Grabe - Looked okayish in photos many years ago, no recent news.

Bryan Daniel O'Connor - No relation to the far more famous Sandra Day O'Connor. There hasn't been any info on Bryan since he retired from his position as a safety chief in NASA back in 2011.

Mary Cleave - Looked frail in virtual appearance in 2020, no news since then.

Bob Springer - Looks okayish in recent appearances.

 

Payload Specialists

 

While payload specialists aren't as well known as the proper NASA Astronauts, most of them usually get an obit.

 

Jake Garn - At 90 years old the oldest payload specialist, but is in" good health" and hopes to reach 100 years old according to a recent article which covered his 90th birthday celebration.

Taylor Wang - No news in forever.

William Pailes - Was still working as a teacher as of 2015 but no news since then.

Loren Acton - Seemed to be quite sharp in an interview 1 year back though physically he is definitely frail. 

John-David Bartoe - No public news for a while but he was on the KSC "Meet an Astronaut" calendar just a few months ago so seems to be around still.

Samuel Durrance - As mentioned earlier, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease recently and mostly using a wheelchair now.

 

[TomTomTelekom 3,727]

The first Polish cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski, who participated in the 1978 Soyuz 30 mission, died at 81 years: 

https://www.newsweek.pl/polska/spoleczenstwo/miroslaw-hermaszewski-nie-zyje-zmarl-jedyny-polak-ktory-polecial-w-kosmos/9xbz51w

He earned a Hero of the Soviet Union honor for his bravery on the space flight.

[arghton 6,695]

On 05/11/2022 at 21:47, arghton said:

Mirosław Hermaszewski also seems to be doing great, and so seem nearly all of the...

This aged well...

[RadGuy 1,614]

On 27/06/2022 at 11:51, TheSpinosaurus said:

Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7) - In good shape and still actively involved in events and stuff

 

Walt Cunningham dead at 90.

[Phantom 2,532]

6 hours ago, RadGuy said:

 

Walt Cunningham dead at 90.

Sad thing is he died from complications after a fall. 

[Ulitzer95 12,576]

The bloodbath continues.

[time 8,586]

Walt Cunningham has been a mainstay of my Ronnies theme team since its inception. One of those guys who seemed to have many more years left in him.

 

Still, points is points.

[ladyfiona 2,575]

A Youtuber (Everyday Astronaut) has been selected to go to the moon as part of Elon Musk's mission.

 

 

[time 8,586]

Walt Cunningham QO.

[Sir Creep 7,070]

6 hours ago, time said:

Walt Cunningham has been a mainstay of my Ronnies theme team since its inception. One of those guys who seemed to have many more years left in him.

 

Still, points is points.

I’m a reasonable person, but can’t make this connection without looking.  Is his real name Ron or summat?  Off I go to find out what your ‘theme’ is.

[Joey Russ 7,220]

24 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

I’m a reasonable person, but can’t make this connection without looking.  Is his real name Ron or summat?  Off I go to find out what your ‘theme’ is.

Google is your friend

[Sir Creep 7,070]

Thanks @Joey Russ you’d be surprised to see my brain at work and the wee thing figured it out prior to finishing my post.  No, really!  Go take a look!  I apologise for not reporting back.

[The Old Crem 3,581]

Jean-Jacques Favier, German born French Astronaut has died aged 73. Obit