AstroNotes – The Gift of Inspiration

Anousheh Ansari

On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer. Anousheh earned a place in history as the fourth private explorer to visit space and the first astronaut of Iranian descent.

Ansari trained as a backup for Daisuke Enomoto for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station, through Space Adventures, Ltd. On August 21, 2006, Enomoto was medically disqualified from flying the Soyuz TMA-9 mission that was due to launch the following month. The next day Ansari was elevated to the prime crew.

Ansari lifted off on the Soyuz TMA-9 mission with commander Mikhail Tyurin (RSA) and flight engineer Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA) at 04:59 (UTC) on Monday September 18, 2006 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The space craft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday September 20, 2006, at 05:21 (UTC).

Ansari landed safely aboard Soyuz TMA-8 on September 29, 2006 at 01:13 UTC on the steppes of Kazakhstan (90 kilometers north of Arkalyk) with U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. Rescuers moved them to Kustanai for welcome ceremony with helicopters.

To help drive commercialization of the space industry, Anousheh and her family provided title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award for the first non-governmental organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.

She currently works to enable social entrepreneurs to bring about radical change globally, with organizations such as X Prize, ASHOKA and the PARSA Community Foundation.

She believes the key to a better future for humankind is in the hands of our young generation, and it is up to us to provide them with the right tools through education and as good role models. Through it all, Anousheh continues to quote Gandhi, one of her personal heroes, who said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

http://www.anoushehansari.com

Eileen Collins

Eileen Collins was selected to be an astronaut in 1992 and first flew the Space Shuttle as pilot in 1995 aboard STS-63, which involved a rendezvous between Discovery and the Russian space station Mir. In recognition of her achievement as the first female Shuttle Pilot, she received the Harmon Trophy. She was also the pilot for STS-84 in 1997.

Collins was also the first female commander of a U.S. Spacecraft with Shuttle mission STS-93, launched in July 1999, which deployed the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Collins commanded STS-114, NASA's "return to flight" mission to test safety improvements and resupply the International Space Station (ISS). The flight was launched on July 26, 2005, and returned on August 9, 2005. During STS-114, Collins became the first astronaut to fly the space shuttle through a complete 360-degree pitch maneuver. This was necessary so astronauts aboard the ISS could take photographs of the shuttle's belly, to ensure there was no threat from debris-related damage to the shuttle upon reentry.

On May 1, 2006, Collins announced that she would leave NASA to spend more time with her family and pursue other interests.

Robert L. Crippen

Robert Crippen became a NASA astronaut in September 1969 and was a member of the astronaut support crew for Skylab 2, Skylab 3, Skylab 4 and for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission. He was the pilot of the first orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle program (STS-1, April 12–14, 1981) and was the commander of three additional shuttle flights: STS-7, June 18–24, 1983; STS-41C, April 6–13, 1984; and STS-41G, October 6–13, 1984. In addition to participating in the first Shuttle flight, he also presided over the first five-person crew (STS-7, which had the first American woman in space), the first satellite repair operation (STS-41-C, which repaired the Solar Maximum Mission satellite), and the first seven-person crew (STS-41-G). He was named commander of the STS-62A mission, which would have launched from the new SLC-6 facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. That mission was cancelled after the Challenger Disaster and SLC-6 was closed.

Crippen was stationed at KSC from July 1987 to December 1989, serving as Deputy Director, Shuttle Operations for NASA Headquarters. He was responsible for final Shuttle preparation, mission execution and return of the orbiter to KSC following landings at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
From January 1990 to January 1992 he served as Director, Space Shuttle, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this headquarters post he was responsible for the overall Shuttle program requirements, performance, and total program control, including budget, schedule and program content.

Crippen subsequently served as the director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center from January 1992 to January 1995. During his tenure, the center processed, safely launched, and recovered 22 Space Shuttle missions. He provided leadership for over thirteen thousand civil service and contractor personnel. This included oversight of multiple contracts supporting center operations for both manned and unmanned spaceflight. He also implemented cost savings of greater than 25% by establishing and developing new quality management techniques while ensuring the highest safety standards in an extremely hazardous environment.

Col. Karol J. "Bo" Bobko, USAF (ret)

Bobko became a NASA astronaut in September 1969 after the cancellation of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. He was a crewmember on the highly successful Skylab Medical Experiment Altitude Test (SMEAT) -- a 56-day ground simulation of the Skylab mission, enabling crewmen to collect medical experiments baseline data and evaluate equipment, operations and procedures.

Bobko was a member of the astronaut support crew for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (ASTP). This historic first international manned space flight was completed in July 1975. Subsequently, he was a member of the support crew for the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests conducted at Edwards AFB. He served alternately as CAPCOM and prime chase pilot during these Approach and Landing Test (ALT) flights.

In preparation for the first flight of Columbia (STS-1) Bobko served as the lead astronaut in the test and checkout group at Kennedy Space Center.
A veteran of three space flights, Bobko logged a total of 386 hours in space. He was the pilot on STS-6 (April 4–9, 1983); and was the mission commander on STS-51-D (April 12–19, 1985) and STS-51-J (October 3–7, 1985).

Walter Cunningham

Walter Cunningham was the Lunar Module pilot on the Apollo 7 mission. He was NASA's third civilian astronaut (after Neil Armstrong and Elliot See), and has also been a fighter pilot, physicist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author of The All-American Boys, lecturer, and host of the radio show Lift-off to Logic.

In October 1963, Cunningham was one of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA. On October 11, 1968, he occupied the lunar module pilot seat for the eleven-day flight of Apollo 7. Although the flight carried no lunar module, Cunningham was kept busy with the myriad system tests aboard this first launch of a manned Apollo mission. He then worked in a management role for Skylab and left NASA in 1971.

In 1977, he published The All-American Boys, a reminiscence of his astronaut days. Cunningham was also a major contributor and foreword-writer for the 2007 space history book In the Shadow of the Moon.

Sigmund Jaehn (Germany)

In 1976, Sigmund Jaehn was selected with his backup Eberhard Köllner for the Interkosmos programme. He trained in Star City near Moscow for the next two years, and flew on board Soyuz 31 (launched 26 August 1978) to the Soviet space station Salyut 6, and returned on Soyuz 29, landing on 3 September 1978. He spent 7 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes in space.

During and after the flight, he and the socialist authorities of the GDR pronounced him "the first German cosmonaut", which was remarkable, as in those days the East German state normally stressed that their people were "GDR citizens", to distinguish themselves from West Germany.

Ernst Messerschmid (Germany)

From 1978 to 1982, Ernst Messerschmid worked at the DFVLR (the precursor of the DLR) in the Institute of Communications Technology in Oberpfaffenhofen on space-borne communications. In 1983, he was selected as one of the astronauts for the first German Spacelab mission D-1. He flew as payload specialist on STS-61-A in 1985, spending over 168 hours in space.

After his spaceflight he became a professor at the Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme at the University of Stuttgart. Since 1999, he is head of the European Astronaut Center in Cologne. In January 2005, he returned to the University of Stuttgart teaching on subjects of Astronautics and Space Stations.

Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (Romania)

Dorin Prunariu was selected for spaceflight training in 1978 as a part of the Intercosmos Program. Obtaining the maximum marks during three years of preparation he was selected for a joint space flight with the Russian cosmonaut Leonid Popov. In May 1981 they completed an eight-day space mission on board Soyuz 40 and the Salyut 6 space laboratory where they completed scientific experiments in the fields of astrophysics, space radiation, space technology, space medicine and biology.

In 1981, after completing the flight, he received the awards of Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania and Hero of the Soviet Union (22 May 1981) and the medal "Golden Star". He was also awarded the Order of Lenin.

Rusty Schweickart

Schweickart was chosen as part of NASA Astronaut Group 3 in October 1963. On March 21, 1966, he was named as backup Pilot to Roger B. Chaffee on Apollo 1, which was to have been the first manned Apollo flight. His fellow crewmen were backup Command Pilot James A. McDivitt and Senior Pilot David R. Scott, both Project Gemini veterans. In December 1966, this crew was promoted to fly the first manned Earth orbital test of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), with Schewickart as Lunar Module Pilot.

This mission was finally flown as Apollo 9 in March 1969. Schweickart spent just over 241 hours in space, and performed the first Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo program, testing the Portable Life Support System that was later used by the 12 astronauts who walked on the Moon. The flight plan called for him to demonstrate an emergency transfer from the Lunar Module to the Command Module (CM) using handrails on the LM, but he began to suffer from space sickness on the first day in orbit, forcing the postponement of the EVA. Eventually he improved enough to perform a relatively brief EVA with his feet restrained on the LM "porch" (a platform used in transferring to the descent ladder), while Command Module Pilot Scott performed a stand-up EVA through the open hatch of the CM.

Schweickart served as backup commander for the first Skylab space station mission, which flew in the Spring of 1973. Following the loss of the space station's thermal shield during launch, he assumed responsibility for the development of hardware and procedures for erecting an emergency solar shade and deploying a jammed solar array wing, operations which saved the space station.

Schweickart was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1973.

Franz Viehbock (Austria)

Together with Clemens Lothaller, Franz Viehbock was selected for the Soviet-Austrian space project Austromir 91. After two years of training he was chosen for the mission, and launched on October 2, 1991 together with Russian cosmonaut Alexander A. Volkov and Kazakh Toktar Aubakirov in Soyuz TM-13 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport.

At the Mir space station he conducted 15 experiments in the fields of space medicine, physics and space technology, together with the cosmonauts Anatoly Artsebarsky and Sergey Krikalev. Viehböck returned after 7 days and 22 hours with Soyuz TM-12, and landed in Kazakhstan on October 10.

The following two years he gave numerous lectures on the mission, then went to the United States and worked for Rockwell. When Rockwell was taken over by Boeing he became Director for International Business Development in Vienna.[1] Later he was assigned Technologiebeauftragter (technology coordinator) of Lower Austria.

Scott Carpenter (Mercury-Atlas 7)
Owen Garriott (Skylab 3, STS 9)