Astronaut Birthdays for August

[GordonD]

August 26th

 

Joe Engle (1932) USA

Selected 1966 (NASA Group 5)

Named LMP on Apollo 17 but replaced by geologist Jack Schmitt as it was the final landing mission and NASA wanted to get a scientist on the Moon

STS-2, 12 - 14 November 1981 (2d 6h 13m) - First flight of a 'used' spacecraft; first test of the Canadarm manipulator

STS-51I, 27 August - 3 September 1985 (7d 2h 17m) - Deployed two comsats; retrieved, repaired and redeployed a third which had previously failed

Total flight time 9d 8h 30m

Retired November 1986

 

 

John Blaha (1942) USA

Selected 1980 (NASA Group 9)

STS-29, 12 - 18 March 1989 (4d 23h 38m) - Deployed TDRS-D communications satellite

STS-33, 23 - 28 November 1989 (5d 0h 6m) - Classified DoD mission; deployed the 'Big Ear' reconnaissance satellite

STS-43, 2 - 11 August 1991 (8d 21h 21m) - Deployed TDRS-E communications satellite

STS-58, 18 October - 1 November 1993 (14d 0h 12m) - Carried Spacelab Life Sciences SLS-2

STS-79/Mir Expedition 22, 16 September 1996 - 22 January 1997 (128d 5h 28m) - Landed aboard STS-81

Total flight time 161d 2h 45m

Retired September 1997

 

 

Kay Hire (1959) USA

Selected 1994 (NASA Group 15)

STS-90, 17 April - 3 May 1998 (15d 21h 50m) - Carried Neurolab; final Spacelab mission

STS-130, 8 - 22 February 2010 (13d 18h 6m) - Delivered Tranquility Module and the Cupola observation pod to the ISS

Total flight time 29d 15h 56m

Retired March 2010

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

August 27th

 

Mikhail Burdayev (1932) USSR

Selected 1967

Took basic cosmonaut training but never selected for a mission

Retired April 1983; no flights

 

 

Yuri Malyshev (1941) USSR

Selected 1967

Soyuz T-2/Salyut 6 Visiting Flight 3, 5 - 9 June 1980 (3d 22h 19m) - First manned flight of the uprated Soyuz craft

Soyuz T-11Salyut 7 Taxi Flight 2, 3 - 11 April 1984 (7d 21h 40m) - Landed aboard Soyuz T-10

Total flight time  11d 19h 59m

Retired July 1988

Died 8 November 1999

 

 

Sergei Krikalev (1958) USSR

Selected 1985

Soyuz TM-7/Mir Expedition 4, 26 November 1988 - 27 April 1989 (151d 11h 10m)

Soyuz TM-12/Mir Expeditions 9/10, 18 May 1991 - 25 March 1992 (311d 20h 0m) - Landed aboard Soyuz TM-13

STS-60, 3 - 11 February 1994 (8d 7h 9m) - Deployed and retrieved the Wake Shield Facility. Krikalev first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the Space Shuttle

STS-88, 4 - 15 December 1998 (11d 19h 18m) - First ISS assembly flight: attached the US Unity Module to the already on orbit Russian Zarya

Soyuz TM-31/ISS Expedition 1, 31 October 2000 - 21 March 2001 (140d 23h 38m) - Landed aboard STS-102

Soyuz TMA-6/ISS Expedition 11, 15 April - 11 October 2005 (179d 0h 23m)

Total flight time 803d 9h 38m

Retired 27 March 2009

 

The launch of Soyuz TM-31 began a continuous human presence in space that has continued unbroken to this day (6509 days and counting)

 

 

Anna Kikina (1984) Russia

Selected 2012

On active status; no flights yet

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

August 28th

 

Leroy Chiao (1960) USA

Selected 1990 (NASA Group 13)

STS-65, 8 - 23 July 1994 (14d 17h 55m) - Carried International Microgravity Laboratory IML-2

STS-72, 11 - 20 January 1996 (8d 22h 0m) - Retrieved previously-launched Space Flyer Unit; deployed and retrieved SPARTAN 206 experiment pallet

STS-92, 11 - 24 October 2000 (12d 21h 42m) - Delivered Z1 Truss, gyroscopes and the Pressurized Mating Adapter to the vacant ISS

Soyuz TMA-5/ISS Expedition 10, 14 October 2004 - 24 April 2005 (192d 19h 2m)

Total flight time 229d 8h 39m

Retired October 2005

 

When STS-92 landed it was the last time to date that no astronauts remained in orbit

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

August 29th

 

Charles Walker (1948) USA

Selected 1983 (Payload Specialist with McDonnell Douglas)

STS-41D, 30 August - 5 September 1984 (6d 0h 57m) - Deployed three communications satellites. First flight of Discovery

STS-51D, 12 - 19 April 1985 (6d 23h 55m) - Deployed two communications satellites; one failed to activate and was repaired on a later mission

STS-61B, 27 November - 3 December 1985 (6d 21h 4m) - Deployed three comsats and crew practised construction techniques with prefabricated components

Total flight time 19d 21h 56m

Retired December 1985

 

On all three flights Walker operated a Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System, separating biological materials in solution by means of an electrical field

 

 

 

Chris Hadfield (1959) Canada

Selected 1992 (Canada Group 2)

STS-74, 12 - 20 November 1995 (8d 4h 30m) - Second Shuttle-Mir docking; delivered a specially-designed Docking Module and solar arrays

STS-100, 18 April - 1 May 2001 (11d 21h 30m) - Delivered Canadarm manipulator and other equipment to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-07M/ISS Expeditions 34/35, 19 December 2012 - 14 May 2013 (145d 14h 18m)

Total flight time 165d 16h 18m

Retired July 2013

 

Shortly before leaving the ISS at the end of Expedition 35, Hadfield sang a modified version of David Bowie's Space Oddity, which has had over 35 million views on YouTube

 

 

Thomas Marshburn (1960) USA

Selected 2004 (NASA Group 19)

STS-127, 15 - 31 July 2009 (15d 16h 45m) - Delivered the Japanese Kibo Exposed Facility (unpressurised 'porch' extension to the Kibo module) to the ISS

Soyuz TMA-07M/ISS Expeditions 34/35, 19 December 2012 - 14 May 2013 (145d 14h 18m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 161d 7h 3m

 

The above is not a typo: Hadfield and Marshburn were both members of ISS Expeditions 34 and 35; however they were not on orbit on the occasion of their shared birthday

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

August 30th

 

Jack Swigert (1931) USA

Selected 1966 (NASA Group 5)

Apollo 13, 11 - 17 April 1970 (5d 22h 54m) - Oh, you know which mission this was!

Retired April 1973

Died of bone cancer 27 December 1982, one week before he would have taken his seat in Congress

 

Swigert was the backup CMP for Apollo 13 but after Ken Mattingly was exposed to German Measles replaced him in the flight crew just two days before launch

 

 

Megan McArthur (1971) USA

Selected 2000 (NASA Group 18)

STS-125, 11 - 24 May 2009 (12d 21h 37m) -  Fifth Hubble Servicing Mission (HST-SM-4)

Still on active status

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

August 31st

 

Georgi Katys (1926) USSR

Selected 1964

Backup for Voskhod 1

Retired 1972; no flights

Died 2017; exact date unknown

 

 

Yuri Isaulov (1943) USSR

Selected 1970

Retired January 1982; no flights

 

 

Leonid Popov (1945) USSR

Selected 1970

Soyuz 35/Salyut 6 Expedition 4, 9 April - 11 October 1980 (184d 20h 11m) - Landed aboard Soyuz 37

Soyuz 40/Salyut 6 Visiting Flight 7, 14 - 22 May 1981 (7d 20h 41m)

Soyuz T-7/Salyut 7 Taxi Flight 1, 19 - 27 August 1982 (7d 21h 52m) - Landed aboard Soyuz T-5

Total flight time 200d 14h 44m

Retired June 1987

 

 

Keith Wright (1947) USA

Selected 1979 (Manned Spaceflight Engineer Group 1)

Backup for STS-51C

Retired May 1985; no flights

 

 

Pavel Vinogradov (1953) Russia

Selected 1992

Soyuz TM-26/Mir Expedition 24, 5 August 1997 - 19 February 1998 (197d 17h 33m)

Soyuz TMA-8/ISS Expedition 13, 30 March - 29 September 2006 (182d 22h 43m)

Soyuz TMA-08M/ISS Expeditions 35/36, 28 March - 11 September 2013 (166d 6h 15m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 546d 22h 31m

 

 

David Matthiesen (1958)

Selected 1994 (US Microgravity Lab Group 2)

Backup for STS-73

Retired November 1995; no flights

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[pdsvidioman]

Thanks for all your hard work on this months birthdays. Very interesting and much appreciated. Paul

[GordonD]

The really hard work was done years ago when (for fun!) I created a database in MS Access listing everybody who had flown in space or been a candidate for a flight. That took a long time but when it was complete it wasn't difficult to keep it up to date as flights were carried out. When I decided to do the daily birthday posts it was easy enough to create an Excel spreadsheet with one cell for each day of the year holding the names of the astronauts whose birthdays fall on that day. So I just go to the spreadsheet, copy the names for that particular day and paste them here, then go to Spacefacts and get the information about that individual. Obviously the more flights a person has made, the longer it takes to type up the career details; it's a relief when there are only unflown people to be written up!