Stargazing Guy

Follow for a weekly list of forthcoming astronaut* birthdays.

Maybe you share a birthday?!

If not, perhaps it will be you who adds your name to the list?!

If you do share a birthday, what does it mean to you?

Do you feel a connection, pride? They take to the skies (on controlled explosions) to improve the world, to explore (to travel to strange new worlds).

____________________________________________________________________

18 September 1932 Nikolai Rukavishnikov (RKA), Russia

18 September 1944 Charles Veach (NASA), US. Interesting Star Trek trivia, in 2143, the assignment patches for these missions were on display in the 602 Club. These patches bore the astronaut’s last name. (ENT: “First Flight”)

18 September 1954 Takao Doi (JAXA), Japan. Flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia on the STS-87 mission, becoming the first Japanese astronaut to perform Extravehicular Activities (EVAs).

18 September 1973 Mark Shuttleworth (Tourist), South Africa. In 2002, Shuttleworth became the first South African to travel to space as a space tourist on Soyuz TM-34 and spent over 9 days in space and on the ISS.

19 September 1957 Richard M. Linnehan (NASA), US. “I decided they needed a veterinarian—they just didn’t know it yet,” says Richard M. Linnehan, DVM, MPA – discussing one of the many varied routes into being an astronaut. From small animals to outer space.

19 September 1965 Sunita Williams (NASA), US.

20 September 1960 James Pawelczyk (NASA), US. Physiologist among the stars: A conversation with Jim Pawelczyk – another varied route into being an astronaut.

21 September 1945 Bjarni Tryggvason (CSA), Iceland

21 September 1955 Richard Hieb (NASA), US

22 September 1965 Robert Satcher (NASA), US. Satcher became the first orthopaedic surgeon in space during STS-129 (Atlantis), 16-27 November 2009.

23 September 1944 Loren Shriver (NASA), US. Shriver, followed a more orthodox entry to being an astronaut (aviator and a retired US Air Force Colonel), piloted the first shuttle secret military mission and commanded two other flights, including deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope.

23 September 1961 William C. McCool (NASA), US. William Cameron “Willie” McCool was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who was the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew of STS-107, after spending over 15-days in space, were killed when Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into the atmosphere, on 1 February 2003. He was the youngest male member of the crew. McCool was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

23 September 1977 Aleksandr Misurkin (RKA), Russia

24 September 1930 John Young (NASA), US. Young became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. He enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions over the course of 42 years of active NASA service. He is the only person to have piloted and commanded four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command and Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle.

Thanks to www.supercluster.com for the bios and links.

Also, thanks to www.pillownaut.com for the list of birthdays.      

* = includes cosmonaut, taikonaut, parastronaut, spaceflight participant, space tourist, etc

____________________________________________________________________

PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Remember, hope lives here.

Contact Stargazing Guy for any copyright-related requests or queries @ stargazer1@stargazingguy.co.uk