Astronaut Birthdays for October

[GordonD]

October 22

 

Donald Peterson (1933) USA

Selected 1967 (MOL Group 3); transferred to NASA 1969 (Group 7)

STS-6, 4 - 9 April 1983 (5d 0h 23m) -  Deployed TDRS-A comsat. First flight of Challenger; first Shuttle EVA (Peterson & Musgrave)

Retired December 1984

Died 27 May 2018 of Alzheimers and bone cancer

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 23

 

No astronaut birthdays today

[GordonD]

October 24

 

Susan Still (1961) USA

Selected 1994 (NASA Group 15)

STS-83, 4 – 8 April 1997 (3d 23h 12m) – Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1)
STS-94, 1 – 17 July 1997 (15d 16h 44m) – Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL-1 Reflight – see Greg Linteris on 4 October for details)

Total flight time 19d 15h 56m

Retired December 2002

 

 

Jing Haipeng (1966) China

Selected 1998 (China Group 1)

Shenzhou VII, 25 - 28 September 2008 (2d 20h 27m) - First three-person Chinese space flight; included first EVA

Shenzhou IX/Tiangong-1 Expedition 1, 16 - 29 June 2012 (12d 15h 25m) - Carried first female taikonaut

Shenzhou XI/Tiangong-2 Expedition 1, 16 October - 18 November 2016 (32d 6h 29m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 47d 18h 21m

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 25

 

Lev Smirenny (1932) USSR

Selected 1972

Retired October 1986; no flights

 

 

Rusty Schweickart (1935) USA

Selected 1963 (NASA Group 3)

Apollo 9, 3 - 13 March 1969 (10d 1h 0m) - First manned test of the Lunar Module (in Earth orbit). Conducted the first EVA using the Apollo lunar surface suit

Retired July 1979

 

 

Marianne Merchez (1960) Belgium

Selected 1992 (ESA Group 2)

Resigned 1995 after marrying astronaut Maurizio Cheli; no flights

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 26

 

Yuri Letunov (1926) USSR

Selected 1965

Never actually undertook cosmonaut training; retired 1966; no flights

Died of a heart attack 30 July 1983

 

 

Vladimir Beloborodov (1939) USSR

Selected 1967

Retired August 1969 for personal (some sources say political) reasons; no flights

Died of a heart attack 20 September 2004

 

 

Stephen Robinson (1955) USA

Selected 1994 (NASA Group 15)

STS-85, 7 - 19 August 1997 (11d 20h 26m) - Deployed and retrieved Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere-Shuttle (CRISTA-SPAS-2)

STS-95, 29 October - 7 November 1998 (8d 21h 44m) - Deployed and retrieved SPARTAN free-flyer; John Glenn was a crew member

STS-114, 26 July - 9 August 2005 (13d 21h 32m) - First Shuttle flight after the Columbia accident. Delivered supplies to the ISS; first 'backflip' inspection manoeuvre 

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

Total flight time 48d 9h 48m

Retired June 2012

 

 

Wu Jie (1963) China

Selected 1996 (China Group 1)

Backup for Shenzhou VI

Retired March 2014; no flights

 

 

Zena Cardman (1988) USA

Selected 2017 (NASA Group 22)

Still in astronaut training; no flights yet

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 27

 

Terry Hart (1946) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-41C, 6 - 13 April 1984 (6d 23h 40m) - Deployed LDEF; retrieved, repaired and redeployed Solar Max

Retired June 1984

 

 

Steve Nagel (1946) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-51G, 17 - 24 June 1985 (7d 1h 38m) - Deployed three comsats; deployed and retrieved SPARTAN 1 free-flyer. crew included a member of the Saudi royal family

STS-61A, 30 October - 6 November 1985 (7d 0h 44m) - Carried the German-financed Spacelab D-1. Last successful flight of Challenger

STS-37, 5 - 11 April 1991 (5d 23h 32m) - Deployed the Gamma Ray Observatory - unscheduled EVA was required to manually deploy the high-gain antenna

STS-55, 26 April - 6 May 1993 (9d 23h 40m) - Carried the German-financed Spacelab D-2

Total flight time 30d 1h 34m

Retired February 1995

Died 21 August 2014

 

 

Michael Baker (1953) USA

Selected 1985 (NASA Group 11)

STS-43, 2 - 11 August 1991 (8d 21h 21m) - Deployed TDRS-5 comsat

STS-52, 22 October - 1 November 1992 (9d 20h 56m) - Deployed Laser Geodynamics Satellite II (LAGEOS). Also carried US Microgravity Payload (USMP-1)

STS-68, 30 September - 11 October 1994 (11d 5h 46m) - Carried Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2)

STS-81, 12 - 22 January 1997 (10d 4h 55m) - Fifth Shuttle-Mir docking; partial crew exchange (Linenger up; Blaha down)

Total flight time 40d 4h 58m

Retired January 2008

 

 

Oleg Kotov (1965) Russia

Selected 1996

Soyuz TMA-10/ISS Expedition 15, 7 April - 21 October 2007 (196d 17h 4m)

Soyuz TMA-17/ISS Expeditions 22/23, 20 December 2009 - 2 June 2010 (163d 5h 32m)

Soyuz TMA-10M/ISS Expeditions 37/38, 25 September 2013 - 11 March 2014 (166d 6h 25m)

Total flight time 526d 5h 1m

Retired May 2016

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 28

 

Valeri Baberdin (1948) USSR

Selected 1990 (Journalist Group)

Took basic cosmonaut training

Retired February 1992; no flights

Died 2 October 2003

 

 

Mikhail Potapov (1952) USSR

Selected 1978

Retired May 1985; no flights

 

 

Gennadi Strekalov (1940) USSR

Selected 1973

Soyuz T-3, 27 November - 10 December 1980 (12d 19h 7m) - First three-man Soviet flight since Soyuz 11 accident. Carried out maintenance work on Salyut 6 but not classed as an Expedition (between fourth and fifth resident crews)

Soyuz T-8, 20 - 22 April 1983 (2d 0h 17m) - Intended to dock with Salyut 7 but mission curtailed when rendezvous antenna ripped off at payload shroud jettison

Soyuz T-10A, 26 September 1983 - Off-pad abort after launch vehicle caught fire

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

Soyuz TM-10/Mir Expedition 7, 1 August - 10 December 1990 (130d 20h 35m)

Soyuz TM-21/Mir Expedition 18, 14 March - 7 July 1995 (115d 8h 43m) - Landed aboard STS-71

Total flight time 268d 22h 22m

Technically retired January 1995 but remained in post until July when Mir Expedition 18 concluded

Died of cancer 25 December 2004

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 29

 

Valery Tokarev (1952) USSR

Selected 1989

STS-96, 27 May - 6 June 1999 (9d 19h 13m) - Delivered equipment and supplies to the vacant ISS

Soyuz TMA-7/ISS Expedition 12, 1 October 2005 - 8 April 2006 (189d 19h 52m)

Total flight time 199d 15h 5m

Retired June 2008

 

 

Pan Zhanchun (1966) China

Selected 1998 (China Group 1)

Backup for Shenzhou X

Retired March 2014; no flights

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 30

 

Robert Gibson (1946) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-41B, 3 - 11 February 1984 (7d 23h 15m) - Deployed two comsats, both of which failed to reach operational orbit but were repaired on a later flight

STS-61C, 12 - 18 January 1986 (6d 2h 3m) - Deployed Satcom K-1 satellite. Last flight before the Challenger accident

STS-27, 2 - 6 December 1988 (4d 9h 5m) - Classified DoD mission. Deployed Lacrosse reconnaissance satellite

STS-47, 12 - 20 September 1992 (7d 22h 30m) - Carried Japanese-financed Spacelab-J.

STS-71, 27 June - 7 July 1995 (9d 19h 22m) - First Shuttle-Mir docking; crew exchange (Expedition 19 up; Expedition 18 down)

Total flight time 36d 4h 15m

Retired November 1996

 

 

Aleksandr Poleshchuk (1953) USSR

Selected 1989

Soyuz TM-16/Mir Expedition 13, 24 January - 22 July 1993 (179d 0h 43m)

Retired March 2004

 

 

Aleksandr Lazutkin (1957) Russia

Selected 1992

Soyuz TM-25/Mir Expedition 23, 10 February - 14 August 1997 (184d 22h 7m)

Retired November 2007

 

 

Ronald Garan (1961) USA

Selected 2000 (NASA Group 18)

STS-124, 31 May - 14 June 2008 (13d 18h 13m) - Delivered Japanese Kibo Pressurised Module to the ISS. Partial crew exchange (Chamitoff up; Reisman down)

Soyuz TMA-21/ISS Expeditions 27/28, 4 April - 16 September 2011 (164d 5h 41m)

Total flight time 177d 23h 54m

Retired December 2012

 

 

Sandra Magnus (1964) USA

Selected 1996 (NASA Group 16)

STS-112, 7 - 18 October 2002 (10d 19h 58m) - Delivered the S1 Truss to the ISS

STS-126/ISS Expedition 18, 15 November 1008 - 28 March 2009 (133d 18h 17m) - Landed aboard STS-119

STS-135, 8 - 21 July 2011 (12d 18h 28m) - Delivered supplies and equipment to the ISS. Last flight of the Space Shuttle programme.

Total flight time 157d 8h 43m

Retired October 2012

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

[GordonD]

October 31

 

Michael Collins (1930) USA

Selected 1963 (NASA Group 3)

Gemini X, 18 - 21 July 1966 (2d 22h 46m) - Docked with Agena target vehicle and used its propulsion system to set a new altitude record (764km)

Apollo 11, 16 - 24 July 1969 (8d 3h 18m) - First lunar landing; Collins was CMP

Total flight time 11d 2h 4m

Would have been in line to command Apollo 17 had he remained in the programme but retired January 1970

 

 

Sergei Gaydukov (1936) USSR

Selected 1967

Retired for medical reasons December 1978, following injuries received in a parachute jump; no flights

Died 5 December 2008

 

 

Terry Wilcutt (1949) USA

Selected 1990 (NASA Group 13)

STS-68, 30 September - 11 October 1994 (11d 5h 46m) - Carried Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2)

STS-79, 16 - 26 September 1996 (10d 3h 18m) - Fourth Shuttle-Mir docking; crew exchange (Blaha up; Lucid down)

STS-89, 23 - 31 March 1998 (8d 19h 47m) - Eighth Shuttle-Mir docking; crew exchange (Thomas up; Wolf down)

STS-106, 8 - 20 September 2000 (11d 19h 10m) - Delivered supplies and equipment to the vacant ISS

Total flight time 42d 0h 1m

Retired February 2005

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website