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).

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13 November 1974 Sergei Ryazansky (RKA) Russia.

14 November 1930 Edward White (NASA) US. During the Gemini 4 mission, White became the first American astronaut to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, on 3 June 1965. At the end of his EVA, White said:

I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life

Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EdWhiteFirstAmericanSpacewalker.1965.ws.jpg

The phrase ‘Ad astra per aspera’ is displayed on the memorial to Apollo 1 at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral, where an accidental fire in 1967 caused the deaths of astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White on 27 January 1967.

14 November 1933 Fred Haise (NASA) US.

14 November 1956 Ken Bowersox (NASA) US.

15 November 1959 Timothy TJ Creamer (NASA) US.

16 November 1950 Carl Meade (NASA) US.

17 November 1944 John-David Bartoe (NASA) US.

18 November 1923 Alan Shepard (NASA) US. On 5 May 1961, Shepard became the second person and the first American to travel into space in the sub-orbital flight of Mercury Spacecraft 7, Freedom 7. He was also the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon at age 47, on 5 February 1971 as part of the Apollo 14 mission.

Background: Astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr., Apollo 14 Commander, stands by the U.S. flag on the lunar Fra Mauro Highlands during the early moments of the first extravehicular activity (EVA-1) of the mission. Shadows of the Lunar Module “Antares”, astronaut Edgar D. Mitchell, Lunar Module pilot, and the erectable S-band Antenna surround the scene of the third American flag planting to be performed on the lunar surface.

Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shepard_Plants_Flag_-_GPN-2000-001120.jpg

18 November 1951 Mark N. Brown (NASA) US.

19 November 1956 Eileen Collins (NASA) US. Collins became the first woman to pilot a space shuttle, when Discovery (STS-63) launched on an eight-day mission on 3 February 1995. That mission included the first space rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir. Collins made history again, when she commanded the Columbia, for mission STS-93 on 23 July 1999.

19 November 1962 Nicole P. Stott (NASA) US. Nicole is an astronaut, aquanaut, artist, mom, and now author of her first book Back to Earth ~ What Life In Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet – And Our Mission To Protect It.  She creatively combines the awe and wonder of her spaceflight experience with her artwork to inspire everyone’s appreciation of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. You can learn more about artwork on her website here.

19 November 1964 Nicholas Patrick (NASA) England. The fourth Brit in space! His flight on 10 December 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth person born in the United Kingdom to go into space. Almost certainly, his birthday is 19 November, despite what Supercluster are saying!

19 November 1958 Jean-François Clervoy (ESA) France.

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

Also, thanks to www.pillownaut.com for the initial list of birthdays, and the many, many resources on the internet, especially Wikipedia and NASA.      

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

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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