Astronauts on the ISS
The thing that dropped through Earth’s atmosphere on November 13 was not a UFO. Nor was it a meteor, a spy satellite, or a very surprised whale. It was—probably…almost certainly—a segment of rocket casing from an old space probe. Nor did it completely fall to Earth. Instead, the object designated WT1190F (yeah, we read it as “WTF” too) burned up hundreds of miles above the Indian…
Jeff Williams astronaut
NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, seen aboard the space station in March 2010, will devote part of his next mission, launching in March 2016, to highlighting the significance of the history of the orbiting outpost. Credit: NASA HOUSTON — NASA s next astronaut to launch to the International Space Station will use his unique position — in both time and space — to share the history of…
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Original Seven astronauts
They were seven men, all military pilots, in peak physical shape with above average IQs. They were college educated and men of faith and family. And they were America s first astronaut volunteers. Announced to the press at 2:00 p.m. on April 9, 1959 in Washington, DC, M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John H. Glenn, Virgil Gus Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard…
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Liu Yang (astronaut)
Liu Yang, a 33-year-old air force pilot, has become China s first female taikonaut (astronaut). Liu made the record books as part of a crew of three on board the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft which launched on Saturday. The Chinese spacecraft has since docked with an orbiting module where the trio will live and work for several days as part of preparations for crewing a permanent space…
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Astronauts board
(by Dmitry Lovetsky and Jim Heintz, Associated Press) BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan — Two Russians and an American [traveled] to the International Space Station on Saturday, beginning what is to be a year away from Earth for two of them. Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly are to spend 342 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, about twice as long as a standard mission on the station. Russia’s…
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Karen Nyberg, astronaut
Astronaut Karen Nyberg is just a few weeks from launching for her long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). As the mother of a young son, Karen says she will be savoring the upcoming Mother’s Day weekend before departing for space. In this interview, Karen answers questions from Parenting magazine’s Elina Bolokhova about the unique aspects of being an astronaut…
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Gus astronaut
Grissom was the second American to make a suborbital flight. His craft sank into the Atlantic – he insisted until his death that he did nothing to cause the hatch to blow. Photo: AP In October 1961, Gus Grissom glumly confided to his mother in a letter that is now up for auction that he and his fellow Mercury 7 astronauts resented John Glenn after he was picked to be the first American…
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