Famous Space Explorers

Edward White in space suit

Edward Higgins White

Ed was the first man (in the USA) to walk in space. He was born in San Antonio, Texas on November 14, 1965. He earned a B.S. from the US Military Acadamy. and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from University of Michigan.

When Ed was 34, he was chosen to go out to space for the first USA space walk with James McDivitt. He went on the Gemini IV.

The Gemini is the ship that carried the team of two out to space. It weighs 3,574 kilograms (7,880 lb). The lauch time was June 3, 1965 15:15:59 UTC. The landing was June 7, 1965. After that, the same ship made the orbit 62 times. After the last landing, the ship traveled in space 2,782,486 kilometers(1,728,957 mi).

He died in the Apollo 1 fire at Kennedy Space Center. He was buried with full military honors at West Point Cemetary. Ed White will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2009.

Neil A. Armstong, born on August 5, 1930 in Ohio, is a former American astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and US Naval Aviator. He is the firt man to set foot on the moon. His first spaceflight was abroad Gemini VIII in 1966, as a command pilot. His second (and last) was on the Apollo 11 moon landing mission on July 20, 1969.

Before becomeing an astronaut, Armstong was in the Navy and saw action in the Korean War. After that, he served as a test pilot in the NACA High-Speed Flight Sation, now know as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety if aircrafts. As a research pilot Armtrong was in F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief, and many more.

Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space. He was born in March 9, 1934. He died on March 27, 1968. He went out in space April 12, 1961. He soon earned many medals from around the world.

Earlier Life:

Yuri was born in the village of Klushio, soon renamed after him. His parents are Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina. Yuri is the 3rd child of his family, with four children in the family. His mother was a person who loved reading and his father was a skilled carpenter. Like millions of other people, his family sufferd in the time when the Nazis were occuping many lands in World War II. Soon in 1955, after completeing his technical schooling, he entered military training, where he met Valentina Goryacheva, whom he married in 1957.

The Space Flight!!!

On 12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first human to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the Vostok 3KA-2. His call sign in this flight was Kedr. During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows".

There are speculations in the media that from orbit Gagarin made the comment, "I don't see any God up here." However, no such words appear in the verbatim record of Gagarin's conversations with the Earth during the spaceflight. In a 2006 interview a close friend of Gagarin, Colonel Valentin Petrov. In a certain context Khrushchev said, "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any God there". Colonel Petrov also said that Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Christianity as a child.

“

The Earth is blue. ... How wonderful. It is amazing.

”

-Yuri Gagarin

Space Exploration Through The Ages. 2001. 1 Apr 2009 http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110163/famous_space_explorers.htm.

Who was Sally Kristen Ride? All in all, an amazing young woman. Se was born in Los Angelos, California - and grew up loving tennis, physics, and science. It was May 26th, 1951, when she was first born. Earning her Ph. D. in Stanford, being nationally ranked in tennis, and co-writing five chldren's book on outer space are just some of her achievements - including the fact that she traveled to outer space in June 18-24, 1983, making her the first space woman explorer.