Pluto & Friends

Research time! So it started bothering me that I'm fuzzy on the differences between Dwarf Planets, Trans-Neptunian Objects, Plutoids, Plutinos, Scattered Disc Objects (SDO), Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO) and Oort Cloud bodies.

I've seen these terms bandied about, but not even the schmoes who coined them can decide what's what. Occasionally, the International Astronomical Union tries to set definitions in stone, but no one ever agrees... so it's like a high-IQ version of Congress without all the fancy neckties and sex scandals.

I initially planned this post as a companion to the Pluto Trivia I'm preparing for a Twitters series. I encourage those interested to examine the linked definitions, and try not to start any fights. I settled for familiarizing myself with the most prominently debated objects, here listed smallest to largest:

1) Ceres
Classification = Former planet, Dwarf Planet, "largest asteroid"??
Approximate Diameter = 950 km
Ceres is the smallest identified "dwarf planet" in the Solar System and the only one in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, accounting for about a third of the belt's overall mass. Discovered in 1801, it was classified as the 8th planet for half a century. The surface of Ceres is a mixture of water, ice, and various minerals, with the possibility of sub-surface liquid oceans. NASA's Dawn space probe, launched in 2007, will reach and explore Ceres in 2015. Ceres was the Roman goddess of growing plants, harvest-time, and maternal love.


2) Quaoar
Classification = Dwarf Planet, TNO (plutoid)
Approximate Diameter = 1260 ± 190 km
Quaoar is a binary system orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper belt, and the very first TNO to be measured directly from pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope! It orbits 3.7 billion miles from the Sun with an orbital period of 287 years. Quaoar is named for the creator god of the Tongva, the native peoples from what is now Los Angeles. It has one satellite, Weywot, which may be a collisional ice fragment, though details about its orbit are unknown. The sky god Weywot was the son of Quaoar in Tongva lore.

3) 2007 OR10
Classification = Dwarf Planet "candidate," TNO (plutoid), SDO
Approximate Diameter = 875–1400km
2007 OR10 is currently the largest known Solar System object without an official name, though its discovery team nicknamed it Snow White, as it would have to be very bright to be detected by their survey. 2007 OR10 is on an orbit similar to that of Eris, circling the Sun every 552 years.

4) Orcus
Classification = Dwarf Planet "candidate," Plutino, TNO (plutoid), KBO
Approximate Dimensions = 946.3 +74.1−72.3km
Because their mutual resonance with Neptune constrains Orcus and Pluto to remain on opposite sides of the Sun in otherwise similar motions, Orcus is oft described as the "anti-Pluto." Orcus was a Roman underworld god and punisher of broken oaths, likely adapted from the Greek demon Horkos, the personification of Oaths and son of Eris. Using observations with the Hubble, astronomers detected a satellite, as yet unnamed and circling every 9 days. Scientists suspect that like the Pluto-Charon system, Orcus and its moon are likely tidally locked.

5) Sedna
Classification = Dwarf Planet "candidate," TNO (plutoid), SDO, new DDO?
Approximate Diameter = 1600 – 1800km
Sedna's precise orbital period is unknown, but calculated at between 10-12 thousand years. At the time of its discovery, it was the largest object found since Pluto in 1930, and also the furthest from the Sun. (Eris would prove further, though Sedna's elliptical orbit will overtake it around 2114). Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicate it is nearly as red as Mars. In Inuit mythology, Sedna is goddess of marine animals, who rules the underworld (Adlivun), where souls prepare for travel to the Land of the Moon (Quidlivun).


6) Haumea
Classification = Dwarf Planet, TNO(plutoid)
Calculated ellipsoid shape = 1,960×1,518×996 km
Haumea is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt which orbits the sun every 283 years. Calculations from its light curve suggest elongated ellipsoid shape, with its greatest axis twice as long as its shortest axis. Other indicators show unusually rapid rotation and a surface of crystalline ice. In Polynesian lore, Haumea is the Hawaiian goddess of fertility. Known moons are named after two of her daughters, Hi’iaka, patron goddess of the Orchid Isle, and Namaka, a water spirit.

7) Makemake
Classification = Dwarf Planet, TNO (plutoid), KBO
Approximate Diameter = 1800km
Makemake's discovery team used the codename Easterbunny for the object, because of its discovery shortly after Easter. In accordance with rules for Kuiper Belt Objects, it was named for a creator deity: Makemake was the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the folklore of the Rapanui, natives of Easter Island. Its low average temperature, about −243.2 °C, means its surface is covered with methane, ethane, and possibly nitrogen ices. Makemake orbits the sun every 310 years.

8) Pluto
Classification = Former planet, Dwarf Planet, TNO(plutoid)
Approximate Diameter = 2,390 km
Pluto, the most controversial due to its demotion from planet status, is about one-fifth the mass of Earth's moon. Like other members of the Kuiper Belt, Pluto is composed primarily of rock and ice. It has an eccentric orbit that causes it to periodically to come closer to the Sun than Neptune. Pluto was the Roman God of the underworld, derived from the Greek Ploutōn, another name for Hades. Pluto orbits the sun every 248 years, and has three moons: Charon (the ferryman who carried deceased souls across the River Acheron in Hades), Hydra (the multi-headed serpent who guarded Acheron) and Nix, (after "Nyx," the Greek goddess of darkness and night).

9) Eris
Classification = Dwarf Planet, TNO (plutoid), SDO
Approximate Diameter = 2,500 km
Eris is about 27% more massive than Pluto, making it the largest known "dwarf planet" in the Solar System, and the ninth-largest body known to orbit the Sun. Eris has an orbital period of 557 years. Discoverers originally called the object Xena, but the official name became Eris, after the Greek goddess of strife. There is one Eridian moon, Dysnomia, the demon of "lawlessness"... a humorous slant toward the first informal name, as portrayed by Lucy Lawless.

And for an absolutely brain-bending list of all the known TNOs, click here. I want all of these to be represented by chocolate!

Yon Flaming Orb

It would take 333,000 Earths to equal the weight of our Sun, which loses four million tons of itself each second as it delivers nearly a kilowatt of energy to each square yard of the Earth's sunlit surface.

The Sun is not always at the exact middle of the solar system. It shifts by its own diameter in varied directions, depending mostly on Jupiter's position. Jupiter's 12-year orbit is not around the Sun, but around a point NEAR the Sun. Meanwhile, the Sun too, performs a small orbit around that spot, which it completes every 11.86 Earth years.

What does the sun emit most strongly? Yellow rays? Heat (Infrared)? Ultra-Violet? Gamma rays? Nope. GREEN LIGHT.

The first photograph of the sun was taken in 1845.

Greek scholar Thales of Miletus (624-546 BC) was the first human to accurately plot and record the path of the Sun across the sky, and the first to predict an eclipse in 585 BC. Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) was the first to postulate than the moon reflects light from the sun, rather than glowing on its own.

Aristotle (384-322) then held back science for the next two thousand years with his geocentric model of the universe, where the Earth was fixed and the Sun moved around it. This somehow became church doctrine until the time of Galileo -- and any attempt to question it meant being burned at the stake.

In 1714, clergyman Tobias Swinton wrote a book claiming the Sun was Hell, since there would be too little room for all the current and future damned souls, not to mention that having the fire and brimstone beneath the earth's surface would soon be snuffed by lack of air. All righty then.

In contrast, Charles Palmer published a theory in 1798 saying the sun was made of ice, arguing that the Bible claimed light existed before God created the Sun. It must not be a source of light but rather simply a reflector of light from the rest of the universe, which was clearly focused on Earth.

The Sun kills about a million people per year, with desert exposure, dehydration complications, and melanomas.

People in the villages near the Konark Sun Temple (Orissa, India) bathe before and after any eclipse of the Sun, which is considered dangerous – so much so that any food prepared during such an event is regarded as poisonous and pregnant women take particular care to keep their eyes tightly shut, lest the fetus be malformed.

Spending just 10 minutes in strong sunlight, the kind you get from 11am to 3pm between April and August, will allow your body to make as much vitamin D as you would get from drinking 200 glasses of milk.

Facts, and much wit, courtesy of Bob Berman, in his new book The Sun's Heartbeat. This was just a taste!

Is "Earth" Truly the Right Name For a Ball of Liquid Blue?

In random ponderings, I have always thought "Earth" was an odd name. The crust of our planet is about 70% ocean, and only 30% above-water landmass that is habitable to We The Species who think it's our job to go about naming things.

We decided our planet should be descriptive instead of being named after a god, so wouldn't it make more sense if we were named for WATER?

Figuring my spacey questions might be a welcome breather between Trump rants and film remake freak-outs, I posed this question to a blog forum I infrequently lurk. This particular philosophical discussion yielded thought-provoking responses.
 

ETYMOLOGY  / Language History: Greek era , Old German erda

Indo-European roots akin to Crimean Goth airtha, old Saxon ertha, Olde English eorthe, Middle English erthe

Greek hydor or hudor, Latin unda wave, Old English wæter; akin to Old High German wazzar

The Greek word for water now survives as the prefix hydro- (as in words like hydrogen or hydration). But with the widespread "borrowing" of languages, perhaps we might even be Wazer or Wave? Had humans known more about planetary properties during the time of naming, we might be something entirely different.


If we changed our planet name, what would be more descriptive?

Yourfindit: If we rename the whole planet, then all the Aliens will have to go through a long process of correcting and updating their records.

Legbamel: Mess?

LolitaV: I always though the name should start with Sector; like Sector Z8474895-AJ1248_X.

Aningenious: I'd go with Skaron 6 it's quite cool and any aliens would have to be mad to attempt to invade a planet called Skaron 6.

Nothingprofound: It's always fascinated me that we're the one planet NOT named after a Latin deity.

Exit2013: It doesn't matter... sooner or later this planet will be a waterworld. Seriously.

PetLvr: We have friends that named their chihuahua "Paul" because they heard someone on a TV show make fun of people who name their pet dogs human names... we can do that for the planet Earth. I vote for "Planet Melvin."

Theresa111: Globe ? Earth's fine by me, kinda used to it. I have given the name some thought throughout my existence and figured someone simply named it before being privy to the rest of the planets elements.

Sam1982: Who had the naming rights anyway?

kdawg68: We should probably ask the insects what they think, since they do outnumber us vastly. Or, we could just go with "Insectia."

Animemania: If we held a poll to change the planet's name...that would be just awful. We'd be stuck calling Earth "Planet Stupid" or something.

crazyTsu: But mud is everywhere (well in most places), not only here. What's in a name? we name things according to what we are familiar with. Our familiarity has not evolved so much and I aint no marine creature either so no oceanworld for me.

Flamingpoodle: The 71/29 split only applies to the earth's surface. Besides, we call it earth because we live on the eartherns part.


Well, if we're going to split hairs, it's actually 70.78% to 29.22% -- but who's counting? ;) I originally rounded because the point of the exercise was "early colloquial assumptions versus current knowledge." If we really wanted a descriptive name, we’d have to include core material, and we aren't about to call our planet "Giant Ball of Mostly Molten Silicon and Iron."

Telescopin' Trivia

Peak Meteor Shower time! Hope everyone is enjoying the Leonids! And what better time to appreciate our telescopes-- which often translates into coveting a newer, better, bigger one.

Conventional history records that German-born Hans Lippershey invented the telescope in 1608, but legend has it that the device was actually invented years earlier by children playing with lenses in his shop where he created eye-spectacles. Other stories say his apprentice first hit upon the idea of doubling refracting lenses. Nonetheless, Lunar Crater Lippershey is named after him, and not the help.

Coastal merchants were the first competitive consumers of early telescopes, using them to spot approaching trade ships; certainly sailors also found them handy when scanning for land masses -- but Galileo Galilei was the first to use one for astronomy. Turning the telescope heavenward, he found the Galilean moons, noted the phases of planet Venus and also analyzed and described sun spots.


Most of the world's largest optical telescopes (listed by aperture) are now built in remote areas, or atop remote peaks, so as to operational in clean, thin air.

For over 70 years, the largest telescope in the world was located at Birr Castle in Ireland. The 40-ton reflecting telescope with a 3-ton mirror, built by the Earl of Rosse in 1845, was nicknamed the “Leviathan of Parsonstown”. Suspended between two giant stone walls, the telescope offered views of Jupiter and one was later used to observe nebulae.

Leviathan

Today, the largest telescope in the world is the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain).

From 1993 (when fitted with corrective lenses after deployment) to the present, the Hubble Space Telescope has been the source of more than 25% of all published astronomy research papers. Funny how you never hear anyone gripe anymore that it was 7 years late and over-budget.


Radio Telescopes that pick up celestial radio waves instead of light, being all the modern rage, now number over 100 and span the globe. Singular dishes and arrays can be found in both Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Antarctica. There have even been two in space!

The majority of professional astronomers don't even look through eye-pieces anymore. Telescopes are largely operated remotely with computers! Even casual computer users can access robotic observatories from home now. Want to try an internet-based telescope? Go to Seeing In The Dark at Cornell University's Astronomy Department.

Attitude Mercurial

In reviving my space trivia series on Twitter, I realized while going through my planetary research notes that I have completely neglected the smallest of our innermost and terrestrial planets, the lovely hot Mercury! How did that happen? Well, Mars is such a squeaky wheel, Mercury tends to get lost in the shuffle.

I love Bing.

And Mercury is populated! Well... there are cities named Mercury in Alabama, Nevada, Texas, and Savoie, France. Cheap joke. But here you are, reading it.
Seriously -- planet Mercury, closest to our sun, smallest floating rock without being demoted to "dwarf" and the smallest axial tilt. Yeah, that one. Mr. Speedy, who orbits our parent star every 87.969 Earth days.

Assyrian astronomers in the 14th century BC were the first to record their observations of planet Mercury, on the famed Mul.Apin tablets, where its cuneiform name translates to "the jumping planet". Babylonians also recorded Mercury a few hundred years later, naming it "Nabu" after a messenger god.

Ibn al-Shatir model for appearances of Planet Mercury

Later, the Greeks mistook Mercury for two planets, calling it "Apollo" at sunrise, and "Hermes" at sunset. Around 400 BC they realized this visible celestial body was one and the same, and it fell exclusively to Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods of Olympus. Romans equated the Greek Hermes with "Mercurius", the name from which "Mercury" eventually derived.

Humans sent 94 crafts to the moon, 39 crafts to Mars, 21 to Venus, and 2 to Mercury: Mariner 10 in 1974 and MESSENGER in 2011. Mercury missions alone have a 100% success rate... which is already pretty good, considering the massive technical challenges to studying Mercury up close!

Bepi Columbo Approaching Mercury

Bepi Columbo, a joint dual-probe mission of ESA & JAXA, will be next! One probe will map the planet, using spectrometers to study the planet in infrared, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma. The other probe will measure Mercury's magnetosphere.

Upon completion, we'll know much more about Mercury's hot plains, impact craters and basins, magnetic field, core and crust and his unusually criss-crossing rupes.

The BC mission is named for Giuseppe Colombo (1920–1984), Italian scientist at the University of Padua, who developed the gravity-assist maneuver commonly used by planetary probes. Colombo devised the trajectory of NASA's Mariner 10, the first and only spacecraft to encounter Mercury during the 20th century.

And while we're on the subject of Mercury as a whole...

Big. Damn. Villain.

Luna Selene

The USSR captured the first photos of the moon taken from space in 1959 by the Luna 3 probe. 46 years ago today, the Soviet space program also achieved the very first soft landing on the moon, with Luna 9.

Earthlings have sent 94 spacecraft to the Moon with various orbiting, landing or sampling goals: 43 from Russia, 45 from the USA, 2 from Japan, 2 from China, and 1 each from Europe and India. Mission success rate is about 58%. Sixteen more missions are planned.

Today's average laptop contains 12 times more computing power than was used to land two men on the Moon in 1969.


The Greek word mēnē branched into the Latin mensis, Germanic mōna and Middle English mone -- eventually becoming "moon" in modern English. From these roots, we also derive the related words "month" and "menstrual."

The Greek moon goddess, Selene, was called Luna by the Romans. Most things associated with the Moon are still referred to as lunar.

This root also gave rise to the words lunacy and lunatic, indicating folkloric link between moon phases and madness, perhaps because cyclical symptoms of some illnesses led to belief that the Moon influenced the sufferers. However, in Russian and Slovak language families, a "lunatic" simply refers to a sleep-walker.


Researchers reviewed police stations calls, homicides, psychiatric consultations and ER visits, but found no consistent relationship with lunar changes. Nonetheless, a 1995 poll found that 43% of people still believed superstitions about how the Moon phases alter behavior.

You've heard terms like Blue Moon, Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon – but how about Wildcat Moon? Kindly Moon? Moon of Horses? Many names given by various cultures indicate appearance of our satellite, weather during particular phases, seasonal human activities, animal behavior -- even the best time to catch fish!

Here are all the Full Moon Names for calendar year 2012.

The Astronaut State

Do you know how special the state of Ohio is to NASA? 21 astronauts were born in Ohio, 4 more moved there as small children and thus consider Ohio their home, and 12 more got their college degrees in Ohio! Wow.

Why so many from Ohio? Perhaps it's because two great astronaut role models, John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, are from Ohio. Perhaps it's because, thanks to the Wright Brothers, Ohio is the birthplace of flight? Probably a combination of both, and given early education about famous flyers from their state, more folks from Ohio grow up dreaming about the stars!


Still, the number of inhabitants in Ohio (which contains only 3% of the entire American population) is rather low in comparison to California, Florida or Texas, where one might expect a greater showing in the astronaut corps. Nope! Percentage-wise, Ohio tops the list with their magic #21:

1921: John Glenn - Cambridge
1926: Karl Henize - Cincinnati
1928: James Lovell - Cleveland
1930: Neil Armstrong - Wapakoneta
1930: Donn Eisele - Columbus
1931: Charles Bassett - Dayton
1949: Kenneth Cameron - Cleveland
1949: Judith Resnik - Akron
1951: Ronald Parise - Warren
1952: Ronald Sega - Macedonia
1952: Terence Henricks - Bryan
1955: Carl Erwin Walz - Cleveland
1955: Donald Thomas - Cleveland
1956: Gregory Harbaugh - Cleveland
1956: G. David Low - Cleveland
1956: Michael Gernhardt - Mansfield
1957: Michael Foreman - Columbus
1958: Nancy Currie - Troy
1962: Mary Ellen Weber - Cleveland
1962: Michael Good - Parma
1965: Sunita Williams - Euclid


Ohio is also the only state to boast nearly an entire mission crew from within their borders! Ohioans definitely followed STS-70 with great prid, because four of five astronauts on Space Shuttle Discovery -- Nancy Currie, Tom Henricks, Don Thomas, and Mary Ellen Weber -- were from Ohio. Then Governor George Voinovich attended the launch and made the fifth crew member, Kevin Kregel, an "honorary Ohio citizen".

During the flight, the mission control center played the Cleveland Indians baseball song as a wake-up call for the crew. (Nancy Currie was actually born in Delaware but moved as a baby to Troy, Ohio… so she considers this her "hometown" . What do you think? Should we them get away with that one?)

I am not always enamored of their choice of words, but CRACKED.com did commentary on how "Ohio Is Full of Astronauts" in one of their famously sarcastic essays, Six Insane Coincidences You Won't Believe Actually Happened.

Terribly amusing, but don't click if you're easily offended by profanity. Cracked.com isn't always Safe-For-Work!

Moonies

Of the 522 space travelers I had the pleasure of researching and studying throughout November while creating my Astronaut Birthplaces Map, perhaps the most exclusive group of astronauts are the Moonwalkers: 12 humans who walked on the Lunar surface between July 1969 and December 1972.

All were male. All were American. All were Caucasian. All were born between 1923 and 1935. Three of the 12 men were Texans. One, Buzz Aldrin, earned a PhD.

All but one were military men. Jack Schmitt was the lone geologist, and the only one who didn't serve in the armed forces. Of the remaining 11, seven were Navy men and four were in the Air Force.

Three are now already deceased: Conrad, Shepard and Irwin.

The nickname "Buzz" originated in childhood when his sister mispronounced "brother" as "buzzer", and this was shortened to Buzz. Aldrin made it his legal first name in 1988. When signing his name, he now tends to cross out "Edwin" on photographs or in older books.


Eugene Cernan's distinction as the last person to walk on the moon meant that Purdue University of Indiana would hold the honor of being the alma mater of both the first person to walk on the moon and the last. Neil Armstrong earned Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. Cernan earned his B.S. in electrical engineering.

Modern space suits possess urine collection hoses with pelvic attachments, and it is assumed that men will fit one of the available sizes: L, XL or XXL. In deference to astro-egos, there is no S or M. This was not the case with the Apollo EVA suits. Among the 100+ items left on the surface of the moon by Armstrong and Aldrin are four urine collection assemblies – two Large and two Small. Which man wore which size remains unknown.


The Apollo 11 moon-walkers are the only astronauts to have a "star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, though their marker is actually round. You know, in the shape of the moon.

Number nine John Young was also the first commander of a Space Shuttle orbiter.

The youngest at the time of his moonwalk was 37. The eldest was 47.

Scott. Everest. Moonrock.

While not a lunar surface veteran, Scott Parazynski (STS-66, STS-86, STS-95, STS-100, STS-120) took a moon rock and other small remembrances of fallen astronauts to the summit of Mount Everest in 2009. He is the first and only astronaut to climb the world's tallest peak. So perhaps that is the smallest club, after all ;)

Astro Birthdates & Milestones

Continuing from yesterday? On my domain, there is a full list of all astronauts listed by birth month, and then another with all astronauts listed by birth year. Both are handy for seeing the oldest to youngest throughout all the world space agencies, and I thought it might also be fun for people to see if they share a birthday with a space traveler.

Then again… someone who is a real space geek might start wondering if any of those dates held interesting facts or milestones. Someone with time on their hands might actually look for patterns.

For instance: In terms of birth dates, the oldest space traveler was Georgi Beregovoi of the Ukraine, a Cosmonaut born April 15, 1921, just 3 years after the revolution that dethroned the last tsar, and put Lenin at the head of communist Russia. John Glenn clocks in second, born on July 18, 1921… when World War I officially ended under President Warren G. Harding.

The youngest space traveler is Yi So-Yeon of South Korea, a KAP taikonaut born June 2, 1978. Russia has recently selected new cosmonauts born in the 1980s, but as yet none have flown. This record will continue to change, of course, where as Beregovoi will always be the "earliest born earthling who went into space".

Pays to be a dreamer...

Jack Lousma is the only space traveler from Earth born on February 29th. He celebrates his birthday every four trips around the sun when we have a Leap Year!

NASA astronaut Gregory Linters was born October 4, 1957 – the very first astro-child born after Sputnik was launched. He was the first Space Race Baby!

The most space travelers were born in the month of August. Second place, May. December and July are tied for the least number of Astros, at 33 apiece.

Since 1923, at least one space traveler has been born every year until 1973. The leanest years were 1924 and 1938, when only singles are on record: Deke Slayton (NASA) and Jean-Loup Chrétien (CNES) , respectively.

The year that saw the most births of future astros? 25 space travelers were born in the year 1956.

On April 12, 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to enter space and return safely. Belgian spationaute Frank De Winne (ESA) was born April 25th of that same year, the first space traveler born into a space-faring world.

On July 20, 1969, Astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong become the first humans to land on the lunar surface. American astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson (NASA) was born August 14 of that same year, the first space traveler born after the historic moon walk.

Happy Birthday Astronaut!

Looooong blog post... probably one of the longest I will ever print, but an interesting reference if you enjoy calendaring and comparing.

BEHOLD, a list of all 522 space travelers from Earth, listed by their birth month and day, and then another column by YEAR. NO astrology remarks please, this is a haven of science.

If your day isn't represented, you could still be the first person in history to grab that date! Apply now!

January 1, 1942 Gennadi Sarafanov (RKA), Russia
January 1, 1947 Vladimir Titov (RKA), Russia
January 1, 1956 Sergei Avdeyev (RKA), Russia
January 1, 1959 Abdul Ahad Mohmand (Intercosmos), Afghanistan
January 3, 1959 Fyodor Yurchikhin (RKA), Georgia
January 4, 1970 Christopher Cassidy (NASA), USA
January 6, 1933 Oleg Makarov (RKA), Russia
January 6, 1948 Guy Gardner (NASA), USA
January 6, 1957 Colin Michael Foale (NASA), England
January 6, 1963 Philippe Perrin (ESA), Morocco
January 7, 1935 Valeri Kubasov (RKA), Russia
January 7, 1941 Frederick D. Gregory (NASA), USA
January 7, 1951 Talgat Musabayev (RKA), Kazakhstan
January 8, 1942 Vyacheslav Zudov (RKA), Russia
January 11, 1926 Lev Dyomin (RKA), Russia
January 13, 1949 Rakesh Sharma (Intercosmos), India
January 14, 1943 Shannon Lucid (NASA), China
January 15, 1969 Anatoli Ivanishin (RKA), Russia
January 16, 1946 Michael Coats (NASA), USA
January 16, 1948 Anatoly Solovyev (RKA)
January 16, 1952 L. Blaine Hammond (NASA), USA
January 16, 1955 Jerry M. Linenger (NASA), USA
January 17, 1943 Daniel Brandenstein (NASA), USA
January 18, 1958 Jeffrey Williams (NASA), USA
January 20, 1948 Jerry L. Ross (NASA), USA
January 20, 1930 Buzz Edwin Eugene Aldrin (NASA), USA
January 21, 1950 Joseph R. Tanner (NASA), USA
January 22, 1955 Thomas David Jones (NASA), USA
January 23, 1930 William R. Pogue (NASA), USA
January 23, 1949 Robert D. Cabana (NASA), USA
January 24, 1952 William Readdy (NASA), USA
January 26, 1952 Mario Runco, Jr. (NASA), USA
January 28, 1939 John M. Fabian (NASA), USA
January 28, 1950 David Hilmers (NASA), US
January 28, 1951 Leonid Kadenyuk (RKA) , Ukraine
January 29, 1942 Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (Intercosmos), Cuba
January 29, 1948 Mamoru Mohri (JAXA)

February 1, 1935 Vladimir Aksyonov (RKA), Russia
February 1, 1961 Daniel Tani (NASA), USA
February 3, 1958 Joe F. Edwards, Jr. (NASA), USA
February 5, 1947 Mary L. Cleave (NASA), USA
February 6, 1961 Yuri Onufrienko (RKA) , Ukraine
February 7, 1929 Konstantin Feoktistov (RKA), Russia
February 7, 1932 Alfred Worden (NASA), USA
February 7, 1963 Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper (NASA), USA
February 9, 1954 Ulrich Walter (DLR), Germany
February 9, 1960 Peggy Whitson (NASA), USA
February 10, 1968 Garrett Reisman (NASA), USA
February 11, 1960 Richard Mastracchio (NASA), USA
February 13, 1939 Valery Rozhdestvensky (RKA), Russia
February 13, 1939 Sigmund Jähn (Intercosmos), Germany
February 13, 1942 Donald Williams (NASA), USA
February 13, 1964 Stephen G. Bowen (NASA), USA
February 14, 1947 Phạm Tuân (Intercosmos), Vietnam
February 15, 1944 Aleksandr Serebrov (RKA), Russia
February 15, 1964 Leland Melvin (NASA), USA
February 19, 1932 Joseph P. Kerwin (NASA), USA
February 19, 1948 Byron Lichtenberg (NASA), USA
February 19, 1952 Rodolfo Neri Vela (NASA), Mexico
February 19, 1956 G. David Low (NASA), USA
February 20, 1943 Aleksandr Aleksandrov (RKA), Russia
February 20, 1954 Vasili Tsibliyev (RKA)
February 20, 1972 Anton Shkaplerov (RKA) Crimea
February 21, 1964 Mark E. Kelly (NASA), USA
February 21, 1964 Scott J. Kelly (NASA), USA
February 22, 1952 James Bagian (NASA), USA
February 23, 1928 Vasili Lazarev (RKA), Russia
February 23, 1949 Marc Garneau (CSA), Canada
February 23, 1959 Clayton Anderson (NASA), USA
February 26, 1928 Anatoly Filipchenko (RKA), Russia
February 26, 1958 Susan J. Helms (NASA), USA
February 29, 1936 Jack Lousma (NASA), USA

March 1, 1924 Deke Slayton (NASA), USA
March 2, 1960 Mikhail Tyurin (RKA), Russia
March 3, 1942 Vladimir Kovalyonok (USSR), Belarus
March 3, 1946 James C. Adamson (NASA), USA
March 3, 1949 Bonnie J. Dunbar (NASA), USA
March 3, 1949 James S. Voss (NASA), USA
March 4, 1965 Yuri Lonchakov (RKA), Kazakhstan
March 5, 1953 Valery Korzun (RKA), Russia
March 5, 1962 Robert Curbeam (NASA), USA
March 6, 1927 Gordon Cooper (NASA), USA
March 6, 1937 Valentina Tereshkova (RKA), Russia
March 6, 1946 Patrick Baudry (CNES), Cameroon
March 7, 1936 Loren Acton (NASA), USA
March 7, 1940 Viktor Savinykh (RKA), Russia
March 8, 1952 Vladimir Vasyutin (RKA) , Ukraine
March 9, 1934 Yuri Gagarin (RKA), Russia
March 10, 1961 Laurel Clark (NASA), USA
March 11, 1956 Curtis Brown (NASA), USA
March 11, 1963 Marcos Pontes (RKA), Brazil
March 12, 1923 Walter “Wally” Schirra (NASA), USA
March 13, 1970 Aleksandr Samokutyayev (RKA), Russia
March 14, 1928 Frank Borman (NASA), USA
March 14, 1934 Eugene Cernan (NASA), USA
March 14, 1939 William B. Lenoir (NASA), USA
March 14, 1963 Pedro Duque (ESA), Spain
March 14, 1967 Michael Fincke (NASA), USA
March 16, 1927 Vladimir Komarov (RKA), Russia
March 16, 1932 Walter Cunningham (NASA), USA
March 16, 1959 Michael J. Bloomfield (NASA), USA
March 17, 1930 James Irwin (NASA), USA
March 17, 1936 Ken Mattingly (NASA), USA
March 18, 1954 James F. Reilly (NASA), USA
March 18, 1957 Christer Fuglesang (ESA), Sweden
March 20, 1960 Yuri Shargin (RKA), Russia
March 21, 1941 Dirk Frimout (NASA), Belgium
March 22, 1951 Musa Manarov (USSR), Azerbaijan
March 24, 1932 Lodewijk van den Berg (NASA), Netherlands
March 24, 1951 Kenneth Reightler, Jr. (NASA), USA
March 24, 1957 Scott J. Horowitz (NASA), USA
March 25, 1928 James Lovell (NASA), USA
March 26, 1962 Yuri Gidzenko (RKA) , Ukraine
March 28, 1946 Wubbo Ockels (ESA), Netherlands
March 29, 1931 Aleksei Gubarev (RKA), Russia
March 29, 1947 Aleksandr Viktorenko (RKA) , Kazakhstan
March 29, 1957 Michael Foreman (NASA), USA
March 29, 1965 William Oefelein (NASA), USA
March 30, 1957 Yelena V. Kondakova (RKA), Russia
March 31, 1957 Patrick G. Forrester (NASA), USA

April 1, 1946 William Frederick Fisher (NASA), USA
April 1, 1973 Sergei Volkov (RKA) , Ukraine
April 3, 1926 Gus Grissom (NASA), USA
April 4, 1964 Satoshi Furukawa (JAXA) , Japan
April 5, 1949 Judith Resnik (NASA), USA
April 5, 1950 Franklin Chang-Diaz (NASA, Costa Rica
April 6, 1957 Paolo A. Nespoli (ESA) , Italy
April 9, 1950 Kenneth Cockrell (NASA), USA
April 9, 1963 Timothy L. Kopra (NASA), USA
April 11, 1941 Frederick Hauck (NASA), USA
April 11, 1942 Anatoly Berezovoy (RKA), Russia
April 11, 1965 Piers Sellers (NASA), England
April 12, 1937 Igor Volk (RKA) , Ukraine
April 13, 1949 Jean-Jacques Favier (CNES), Germany
April 14, 1929 William E. Thornton (NASA), USA
April 14, 1942 Valentin Lebedev (RKA), Russia
April 15, 1921 Georgi Beregovoi (RKA) , Ukraine
April 15, 1951 Marsha Ivins (NASA), USA
April 15, 1951 John L. Phillips (NASA), USA
April 15, 1956 Gregory Harbaugh (NASA), USA
April 15, 1960 Mikhail Korniyenko (RKA), Russia
April 15, 1965 Soichi Noguchi (JAXA) , Japan
April 16, 1956 David McDowell Brown (NASA), USA
April 16, 1959 Michael R. Barratt (NASA), USA
April 17, 1964 Andrei Borisenko (RKA), Russia
April 20, 1945 Gregory Olsen (Space Tourist), USA
April 20, 1955 Donald Pettit (NASA), USA
April 21, 1951 Aleksandr Laveykin (RKA), Russia
April 21, 1962 Sergei Zalyotin (RKA), Russia
April 25, 1961 Frank De Winne (ESA), Belgium
April 27, 1942 Valeri Polyakov (RKA), Russia
April 27, 1953 Ellen S. Baker (NASA), USA
April 28, 1943 John Oliver Creighton (NASA), USA
April 28, 1949 Jerome Apt (NASA), USA
April 28, 1956 Paul Lockhart (NASA), USA
April 28, 1957 Léopold Eyharts (ESA), France
April 29, 1953 Nikolai Budarin (RKA), Russia
April 30, 1957 Duane G. Carey (NASA), USA

May 1, 1925 Scott Carpenter (NASA), USA
May 2, 1957 Dominic Gorie (NASA), USA
May 3, 1949 Albert Sacco (NASA), USA
May 4, 1956 Michael Gernhardt (NASA), USA
May 4, 1959 Maurizio Cheli (ESA) , Italy
May 5, 1941 Anatoli Levchenko (RKA) , Ukraine
May 5, 1949 Oleg Atkov (RKA), Russia
May 5, 1960 Douglas H. Wheelock (NASA), USA
May 5, 1965 Fei Junlong (CSNA), China
May 6, 1949 David Leestma (NASA), USA
May 6, 1952 Chiaki Mukai (JAXA) , Japan
May 6, 1955 Donald A. Thomas (NASA), USA
May 6, 1966 Aleksandr Skvortsov (RKA), Russia
May 7, 1959 Tamara E. Jernigan (NASA), USA
May 8, 1952 Charles Camarda (NASA), USA
May 9, 1931 Vance D. Brand (NASA), USA
May 10, 1958 Ellen Ochoa (NASA), USA
May 10, 1963 Lisa Nowak (NASA), USA
May 12, 1962 Gregory H. Johnson (NASA), England
May 13, 1942 Vladimir Dzhanibekov (RKA), Uzbekistan
May 13 1956 Aleksandr Kaleri (RKA), Latvia
May 13, 1957 Claudie André-Deshays Haigneré (ESA), France
May 14, 1952 Donald McMonagle (NASA), USA
May 14, 1957 William G. Gregory (NASA), USA
May 14, 1964 James M. Kelly (NASA), USA
May 15, 1942 Anthony W. England (NASA), USA
May 15, 1949 Frank L. Culbertson, Jr. (NASA), USA
May 15, 1975 Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (NASA), USA
May 16, 1945 Brewster Shaw (NASA), USA
May 16, 1954 Dafydd Williams (CSA), Canada
May 17, 1967 Joseph M. Acaba (NASA), USA
May 18, 1930 Don L. Lind (NASA), USA
May 19, 1939 Richard Scobee (NASA), USA
May 19, 1948 Jean-Pierre Haigneré (CNES), France
May 19, 1955 Pierre Thuot (NASA), USA
May 20, 1944 David M. Walker (NASA), USA
May 20, 1951 Thomas Akers (NASA), USA
May 20, 1964 Paul W. Richards (NASA), USA
May 21, 1942 Robert Springer (NASA), USA
May 21, 1945 Ernst Messerschmid (DLR), Germany
May 23, 1958 Thomas Reiter (ESA), Germany
May 24, 1951 Ronald Parise (NASA), USA
May 24, 1972 Maksim Surayev (RKA), Russia
May 25, 1931 Georgi Grechko (RKA), Russia
May 25, 1964 Ivan Bella (RKA), Slovakia
May 25, 1965 John D. Olivas (NASA), USA
May 25, 1969 Dmitri Kondratyev (RKA), Russia
May 26, 1951 Muhammed Faris (Intercosmos), Syria
May 26, 1951 Sally Ride (NASA), USA
May 27, 1948 Aleksandr Volkov (RKA) , Ukraine
May 30, 1958 Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA), Spain
May 30, 1963 Helen Sharman (Project Juno), England
May 28, 1944 Paul Scully-Power (NASA), Australia
May 30, 1934 Alexey Leonov (RKA), Russia

June 1, 1928 Georgiy Dobrovolskiy (RKA) , Ukraine
June 1, 1954 Jeffrey Ashby (NASA), USA
June 2, 1930 Pete Conrad (NASA), USA
June 2, 1956 Mark Polansky (NASA), USA
June 1, 1950 Gennadi Manakov (RKA), Russia
June 2, 1978 Yi So-yeon (KAP), South Korea
June 4, 1965 Shannon Walker (NASA), USA
June 4, 1967 Robert S. Kimbrough (NASA), USA
June 5, 1956 Richard Searfoss (NASA), USA
June 6, 1932 David Scott (NASA), USA
June 6, 1956 Jay C. Buckey (NASA), USA
June 8, 1937 Bruce McCandless (NASA), USA
June 8, 1965 Stanley Love (NASA), USA
July 9, 1943 John Casper (NASA), USA
June 9, 1946 F. Drew Gaffney (NASA), USA
June 10, 1929 James McDivitt (NASA), USA
June 11, 1944 James van Hoften (NASA), USA
June 12, 1949 Yuri Baturin(RKA), Russia
June 13, 1945 Ronald J. Grabe (NASA), USA
June 16, 1940 Taylor Gun-Jin Wang (NASA), China
June 18, 1937 Vitali Zholobov (RKA) , Ukraine
June 19, 1933 Viktor Patsayev (RKA) , Kazakhstan
June 20, 1941 Ulf Merbold (ESA), Germany
June 20, 1945 James Buchli (NASA), USA
June 20, 1948 Gary Payton (NASA), USA
June 20, 1953 Brian Duffy (NASA), USA
June 20, 1954 Ilan Ramon (ISA), Israel
June 21, 1958 Gennady Padalka (RKA), Russia
June 21, 1964 Oleg Kononenko (RKA), Turkmenistan
June 21, 1965 Yang Liwei (CSNA), China
June 22, 1930 Yuri Artyukhin (RKA), Russia
June 23, 1930 Donn Eisele (NASA), USA
June 24, 1946 Ellison Onizuka (NASA), USA
June 26, 1925 Pavel Belyayev (RKA), Russia
June 26, 1952 William Pailes (NASA), USA
June 26, 1956 Bernard A. Harris, Jr. (NASA), USA
June 27, 1937 Joseph P. Allen (NASA), USA
June 27, 1951 Sidney M. Gutierrez (NASA), USA
June 27, 1956 Sultan Salman Al Saud (ARABSAT), Saudi Arabia
June 28, 1946 John M. Lounge (NASA), USA
June 29, 1955 Charles Precourt (NASA), USA
June 29, 1962 George D. Zamka (NASA), USA
June 30, 1951 Stephen Oswald (NASA), USA

July 1, 1961 Kalpana Chawla (NASA), India
July 1, 1963 Ed Lu (NASA), USA
July 2, 1940 Georgi Ivanov (Intercosmos), Bulgaria
July 2, 1952 Linda M. Godwin (NASA), USA
July 2, 1959 Wendy B. Lawrence (NASA), USA
July 3, 1935 Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (NASA), USA
July 3, 1943 Norman Thagard (NASA), USA
July 4, 1961 Richard Garriott (Space Tourist), England
July 5, 1952 Terence Henricks (NASA), USA
July 7, 1960 Kevin A. Ford (NASA), USA
July 8, 1935 Vitali Sevastyanov (RKA), Russia
July 10, 1942 Pyotr Klimuk (Intercosmos), Belarus
July 11, 1950 Lawrence J. DeLucas (NASA), USA
July 12, 1957 Richard Husband (NASA), USA
July 13, 1934 Aleksei Yeliseyev (RKA), Russia
July 13, 1950 George Nelson (NASA), USA
July 14, 1936 Robert Overmyer (NASA), USA
July 17, 1959 Janet L. Kavandi (NASA), USA
July 18, 1921 John Glenn (NASA), USA
July 19, 1943 Roy D. Bridges, Jr. (NASA), USA
July 20, 1941 Vladimir Lyakhov (RKA) , Ukraine
July 22, 1942 Toyohiro Akiyama (Tokyo Broadcasting System), Japan
July 25, 1932 Paul J. Weitz (NASA), USA
July 25, 1957 Daniel W. Bursch (NASA), USA
July 26, 1949 William Shepherd (NASA), USA
July 26, 1951 William S. McArthur (NASA), USA
July 27, 1946 Toktar Aubakirov (RKA), Kazakhstan
July 27, 1961 Daniel C. Burbank (NASA), USA
July 27, 1972 Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (ANGKASA), Malaysia
July 28, 1961 Scott Parazynski (NASA), USA
July 30, 1953 Aleksandr Balandin (RKA), Russia
July 30, 1954 Gregory C. Johnson (NASA), USA
July 30, 1962 Vladimir Dezhurov (RKA), Russia

August 1, 1944 Yuri Romanenko (RKA), Russia
August 1, 1946 Richard Covey (NASA), USA
August 1, 1963 Koichi Wakata (JAXA) , Japan
August 2, 1934 Valery Bykovsky (RKA), Russia
August 2, 1949 Bertalan Farkas (Intercosmos), Hungary
August 3, 1935 Georgi Shonin (RKA) , Ukraine
August 3, 1951 Hans Schlegel (ESA), Germany
August 3, 1964 Joan Higginbotham (NASA), USA
August 4, 1943 Michael J. McCulley (NASA), USA
August 4, 1955 Andrew M. Allen (NASA), USA
August 4, 1955 Charles Gemar (NASA), USA
August 5, 1930 Neil Armstrong (NASA), USA
August 5, 1941 Leonid Kizim (RKA) , Ukraine
August 6, 1950 Winston E. Scott (NASA), USA
August 6, 1962 Gregory Chamitoff (NASA), Canada
August 7, 1956 Kent Rominger (NASA), USA
August 7, 1962 José Hernández (NASA), USA
August 8, 1940 Dennis Tito (First Space Tourist), USA
August 8, 1948 Svetlana Savitskaya (RKA), Russia
August 9, 1971 Roman Romanenko (RKA), Russia
August 11, 1961 Frederick Sturckow (NASA), USA
August 12, 1951 Charles E. Brady, Jr. (NASA), USA
August 13, 1942 Robert L. Stewart (NASA), USA
August 14, 1943 Jon McBride (NASA), USA
August 14, 1952 Mark C. Lee (NASA), USA
August 14, 1969 Tracy Caldwell Dyson (NASA), USA
August 15, 1959 Scott Altman (NASA), USA
August 15, 1947 Sonny Carter (NASA), USA
August 16, 1933 Stuart Roosa (NASA), USA
August 16, 1939 Valery Ryumin (RKA), Russia
August 16, 1958 Peter Wisoff (NASA), USA
August 17, 1952 Kathryn C. Thornton (NASA), USA
August 17, 1952 Thomas J. Hennen (NASA), USA
August 17, 1953 Robert Thirsk (CSA), Canada
August 18, 1954 Umberto Guidoni (ESA) , Italy
August 18, 1958 Sergei Treshchyov (RKA), Russia
August 19, 1935 Story Musgrave (NASA), USA
August 19, 1946 Charles Bolden (NASA), USA
August 19, 1962 Michael Massimino (NASA), USA
August 20, 1938 Jean-Loup Chrétien (CNES), France
August 22, 1932 Gerald P. Carr (NASA), USA
August 23, 1952 Klaus-Dietrich Flade (DLR), Germany
August 23, 1956 David Wolf (NASA), USA
August 23, 1967 Dominic A. Antonelli (NASA), USA
August 24, 1946 Richard N. Richards (NASA), USA
August 24, 1949 Anna Lee Fisher (NASA), USA
August 24, 1960 Steven W. Lindsey (NASA), USA
August 24, 1960 Franz Viehböck (Austromir), Austria
August 24, 1962 Mary E. Weber (NASA), USA
August 24, 1964 Salizhan Sharipov (RKA), Kyrgystan
August 25, 1960 Lee Archambault (NASA), USA
August 25, 1965 Andrew J. Feustel (NASA), USA
August 26, 1932 Joseph Henry Engle (NASA), USA
August 26, 1942 John E. Blaha (NASA), USA
August 26, 1959 Kathryn P. Hire (NASA), USA
August 27, 1941 Yuri Malyshev (RKA), Russia
August 27, 1958 Sergei Krikalev (RKA), Russia
August 27, 1965 Oleg Kotov (RKA) , Ukraine
August 28, 1960 Leroy Chiao (NASA), USA
August 29, 1948 Charles Walker (McDonnell Douglas), USA
August 29, 1959 Chris Hadfield (CSA) , Canada
August 29, 1960 Thomas Marshburn (NASA), USA
August 30, 1971 K. Megan McArthur (NASA), USA
August 30, 1931 John "Jack" Swigert (NASA), USA
August 31, 1945 Leonid Popov (RKA) , Ukraine
August 31, 1953 Pavel Vinogradov (RKA), Russia

September 1, 1961 Christopher Ferguson (NASA), USA
September 2, 1944 Claude Nicollier (ESA), Switzerland
September 2, 1953 Gerhard Thiele (ESA), Germany
September 2, 1959 Guy Laliberté (Space Tourist), Canada
September 3, 1944 Sherwood Spring (NASA), USA
September 5, 1929 Andriyan Nikolayev (RKA), Russia
September 6, 1946 Bryan O'Connor (NASA), USA
September 6, 1955 Carl Walz (NASA), USA
September 7, 1939 S. David Griggs (NASA), USA
September 9, 1952 Lee Morin (NASA), USA
September 9, 1956 Anatoly Artsebarsky (RKA), Ukraine
September 10, 1933 Yevgeny Khrunov (RKA), Russia
September 10, 1945 Richard Mullane (NASA), USA
September 10, 1948 Charles Simonyi (Space Tourist), Hungary
September 11, 1935 Gherman Titov (RKA), Russia
September 11, 1937 Robert Crippen (NASA), USA
September 11, 1967 Randolph Bresnik (NASA), USA
September 12, 1940 Roger K. Crouch (NASA), USA
September 12, 1966 Anousheh Ansari (Space Tourist), Iran
September 14, 1950 Huu-Chau “Eugene” Trinh (NASA), Vietnam
September 14, 1958 John Herrington (NASA), USA
September 15, 1941 Mirosław Hermaszewski (Intercosmos), Poland
September 16, 1956 Kevin R. Kregel (NASA), USA
September 17, 1930 Edgar Mitchell (NASA), USA
September 17, 1930 Thomas P. Stafford (NASA), USA
September 17, 1943 Samuel Durrance (NASA), USA
September 17, 1961 Pamela Melroy (NASA), USA
September 18, 1932 Nikolai Rukavishnikov (RKA), Russia
September 18, 1944 Charles Veach (NASA), USA
September 18, 1954 Takao Doi (JAXA) , Japan
September 18, 1973 Mark Shuttleworth (Space Tourist), South Africa
September 19, 1957 Richard M. Linnehan (NASA), USA
September 19, 1965 Sunita Williams (NASA), USA
September 20, 1960 James Pawelczyk (NASA), USA
September 21, 1945 Bjarni Tryggvason (CSA), Iceland
September 21, 1955 Richard Hieb (NASA), USA
September 22, 1965 Robert Satcher (NASA), USA
September 23, 1944 Loren Shriver (NASA), USA
September 23, 1961 William C. McCool (NASA), USA
September 24, 1930 John Young (NASA), USA
September 26, 1948 Vladimír Remek (Intercosmos), Czech Republic
September 27, 1952 Dumitru Prunariu (Intercosmos), Romania
September 27, 1966 Stephanie Wilson (NASA), USA
September 29, 1942 Clarence W. Nelson (NASA), USA
September 29, 1959 James D. Halsell (NASA), USA
September 28, 1940 Aleksandr Ivanchenkov (RKA), Russia
September 29, 1966 Liu Boming (CSNA), China
September 30, 1949 Michel Tognini (ESA), France
September 30, 1964 Stephen Frick (NASA), USA

October 1, 1950 Boris Morukov STS-106 (RKA), Russia
October 1, 1964 Eric A. Boe (NASA), USA
October 2, 1939 Yuri Glazkov (RKA), Russia
October 3, 1935 Charles Duke, Jr. (NASA), USA
October 3, 1951 Kathryn D. Sullivan (NASA), USA
October 4, 1957 Gregory Linteris (NASA), USA
October 5, 1929 Richard F. Gordon, Jr. (NASA), USA
October 5, 1930 Pavel Popovich (RKA) , Ukraine
October 5, 1958 Brent W. Jett, Jr. (NASA), USA
October 5, 1958 André Kuipers (ESA), Netherlands
October 7, 1969 Karen Nyberg (NASA), USA
October 8, 1956 Janice E. Voss (NASA), USA
October 8, 1959 Carlos I. Noriega (NASA), Peru
October 9, 1957 Yuri Usachov (RKA), Russia
October 10, 1946 Franco Malerba (ASI) , Italy
October 10, 1958 John M. Grunsfeld (NASA), USA
October 10, 1962 Rex J. Walheim (NASA), USA
October 10, 1966 Zhai Zhigang (CSNA), China
October 11, 1936 C. Gordon Fullerton (NASA), USA
October 12, 1932 Jake Garn (NASA), USA
October 13, 1952 Michael R. Clifford (NASA), USA
October 13, 1962 Michael T. Good (NASA), USA
October 13, 1964 Nie Haisheng (CSNA), China
October 15, 1964 Roberto Vittori (ESA) , Italy
October 16, 1956 James H. Newman (NASA), Micronesia
October 11, 1936 C. Gordon Fullerton (NASA), USA
October 17, 1933 William Anders (NASA), Hong Kong
October 17, 1956 Mae Jemison (NASA), USA
October 20, 1963 Julie Payette (CSA), Canada
October 21, 1950 Ronald McNair (NASA), USA
October 21, 1966 Douglas G. Hurley (NASA), USA
October 22, 1933 Donald H. Peterson (NASA), USA
October 24, 1961 Susan Still (NASA), USA
October 24, 1966 Jing Haipeng (CSNA), China
October 25, 1935 Russell “Rusty” Schweickart (NASA), USA
October 26, 1940 Gennadi Strekalov (RKA), Russia
October 26, 1955 Stephen Robinson (NASA), USA
October 27, 1946 Terry Hart (NASA), USA
October 27, 1946 Steven R. Nagel (NASA), USA
October 27, 1953 Michael A. Baker (NASA), USA
October 29, 1952Valeri Tokarev (RKA), Russia
October 30, 1946 Robert L. Gibson (NASA), USA
October 30, 1953 Aleksandr Poleshchuk (RKA), Russia
October 30, 1957 Aleksandr Lazutkin (RKA), Russia
October 30, 1961 Ronald J. Garan, Jr. (NASA), USA
October 30, 1964 Sandra Magnus (NASA), USA
October 31, 1930 Michael Collins (NASA) , Italy
October 31, 1949 Terrence Wilcutt (NASA), USA

November 1, 1953 Jan Davis (NASA), USA
November 2, 1944 Jeffrey A. Hoffman (NASA), USA
November 3, 1954 Kevin P. Chilton (NASA), USA
November 5, 1948 Robert J. Cenker (NASA), USA
November 5, 1961 Charles Hobaugh (NASA), USA
November 5, 1961 Alan Poindexter (NASA), USA
November 5, 1962 B. Alvin Drew (NASA), USA
November 8, 1936 Edward Gibson (NASA), USA
November 8, 1947 Margaret Seddon (NASA), USA
November 8, 1948 Dale Gardner (NASA), USA
November 10, 1933 Ronald Evans (NASA), USA
November 11, 1946 Vladimir Solovyov (RKA), Russia
November 12, 1937 Richard H. Truly (NASA), USA
November 14, 1930 Edward White (NASA), USA
November 14, 1933 Fred Haise (NASA), USA
November 14, 1956 Ken Bowersox (NASA), USA
November 15, 1959 Timothy “TJ” Creamer (NASA), USA
November 16, 1950 Carl Meade (NASA), USA
November 17, 1944 John-David Bartoe (NASA), USA
November 18, 1923 Alan Shepard (NASA), USA
November 18, 1951 Mark N. Brown (NASA), USA
November 19, 1956 Eileen Collins (NASA), USA
November 19, 1962 Nicole P. Stott (NASA), USA
November 19, 1964 Nicholas Patrick (NASA), England
November 19, 1958 Jean-François Clervoy (ESA), France
November 20, 1968 James Dutton (NASA), USA
November 21, 1933 Henry Hartsfield (NASA), USA
November 22, 1930 Owen Garriott (NASA), USA
November 22, 1942 Guion Bluford (NASA), USA
November 23, 1935 Vladislav Volkov (RKA), Russia
November 25, 1940 Reinhard Furrer (NASA), Austria
November 26, 1937 Boris Yegorov (RKA), Russia
November 26, 1963 Richard R. Arnold (NASA), USA
November 27, 1952 Jim Wetherbee (NASA), USA
November 28, 1951 Barbara Morgan (NASA), USA
November 29, 1949 Kenneth D. Cameron (NASA), USA

December 1, 1951 Aleksandar Aleksandrov (Intercosmos), Bulgaria
December 1, 1967 Konstantin Kozeyev (RKA), Russia
December 1, 1967 Terry Virts (NASA), USA
December 3, 1934 Viktor Gorbatko (RKA), Russia
December 3, 1960 Steven Swanson (NASA), USA
December 4, 1945 Roberta Bondar (CSA), Canada
December 4, 1952 Ronald Sega (NASA), USA
December 5, 1947 Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa (Intercosmos), Mongolia
December 5, 1949 Bruce Melnick (NASA), USA
December 8, 1927 Vladimir Shatalov (RKA) , Kazakhstan
December 12, 1951 Steven Hawley (NASA), USA
December 12, 1964 Kenneth Ham (NASA), USA
December 14, 1936 Robert A. Parker (NASA), USA
December 14, 1954 Steven MacLean (CSA), Canada
December 14, 1960 Catherine “Cady” Coleman (NASA), USA
December 18, 1934 Boris Volynov (RKA), Russia
December 18, 1951 Andrew Thomas (NASA), Australia
December 18, 1956 Reinhold Ewald (ESA), Germany
December 19, 1951 Frederick W. Leslie (NASA), Panama
December 19, 1957 Michael E. Fossum (NASA), USA
December 21, 1945 Millie Hughes-Fulford (NASA), USA
December 22, 1961 Yuri Malenchenko (RKA) , Ukraine
December 23, 1937 Karol J. "Bo" Bobko (NASA), USA
December 24, 1969 Ole g Skripochka (RKA), Russia
December 25, 1959 Michael Phillip Anderson (NASA), USA
December 27, 1970 Naoko Yamazaki (JAXA) , Japan
December 28, 1968 Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA) , Japan
December 29, 1958 Nancy Currie (NASA), USA
December 29, 1962 Barry Wilmore (NASA), USA
December 30, 1953 Daniel T. Barry (NASA), USA
December 30, 1958 Steven L. Smith (NASA), USA
December 31, 1948 Viktor Afanasyev (RKA), Russia
December 31, 1956 Martin J. Fettman (NASA), USA

Again, the link to an additional resource page showing this same list sorted by birth year is available over at Pillownaut.com! :)

Astro Websites

Okay, back to Astronaut trivia! While researching my new Space Map series, I read the profiles of all 522 space travelers from 51 nations, and linked to their profiles at their various programs or space agencies.

Along the way, I noticed that some astronauts, in addition to government biographies, had their own web sites. However, it was not as many as I would have thought! I found 44 total, but would love to hear from anyone who may know others.

A few other space sites have older lists, but most are incomplete or out-of-date in terms of those sites that no longer exist. So here is the most updated listing I could compile:

Buzz Aldrin http://buzzaldrin.com/

William Anders http://www.heritageflight.org/content/

Jerome Apt http://www.orbitexperience.com/

Alan Bean http://www.alanbeangallery.com/

Roberta Bondar http://www.robertabondar.com/

Fernando Caldiero http://www.frankcaldeiro.com.ar/

Duane Carey http://www.astronautbiker.com/
*Award for Awesomest Domain Name

Scott Carpenter http://www.scottcarpenter.com/

Gene Cernan http://marklarson.com/genecernan/

Franklin Chang-Diaz http://franklinchangdiaz.com/

Leroy Chiao http://leroychiao.blogspot.com/

Pete Conrad http://www.peteconrad.org/

Walter Cunningham http://www.waltercunningham.com/

Charles Duke http://www.charlieduke.net/

Ron Garan http://fragileoasis.org/

John Glenn http://www.johnglennhome.org/

Richard Gordon http://www.dickgordon.com/

Umberto Guidoni http://www.umbertoguidoni.eu/

Miroslaw Hermazewski http://hermaszewski.com/

John Herrington http://www.rocketrek.com/

Jose Hernandez http://www.astrojh.com/

Thomas Jones http://home.comcast.net/~skywalking/

James Lovell http://www.lovellsoflakeforest.com/
*Okay, this one is a restaurant, a little off-theme...

Ed Lu http://www.edlu.com/

Yuri Malenchenko http://www.yurimalenchenko.com/

Franco Malerba http://www.francomalerba.it/

Edgar Mitchell http://www.edmitchellapollo14.com/

Mike Mullane http://www.mikemullane.com/

Story Musgrave http://www.storymusgrave.com/

William Nelson http://billnelson.senate.gov/

William Oefelein http://www.adventurewrite.com/

Greg Olsen http://ghoventures.com/bio.aspx/

Scott Parazynski http://www.parazynski.com/

William Pogue http://www.williampogue.com/

Dumitru Dorin Prunariu http://www.prunariu.org/

Vladimír Remek http://www.vladimirremek.cz/

Sally Ride http://www.sallyridecamps.com/

Wally Schirra http://www.wallyschirra.com/

Rusty Schweickart http://www.well.com/user/rs/index.html/

Rick Searfoss http://www.astronautspeaker.com/

Deke Slayton http://www.dekeslaytonmuseum.com/

Thomas Stafford http://www.staffordmuseum.com/

Franz Viehböck http://www.franzviehboeck.com/

Edward White http://www.cmgww.com/historic/white/index.php/

Al Worden http://www.alworden.com/

John Young http://www.johnwyoung.org/main/jy1.htm/

Sky Bullets

The word meteor comes from the classical Greek meteoron, which means "atmospheric event", and technically, this modern term refers merely to the streak of photons trailing a meteoroid. A meteoroid, in turn, is any interplanetary object bigger than a speck of dust and smaller than an asteroid.

The atmosphere is something of an Ellis Island stopover. Once it hits Earth, a meteoroid undergoes a scientific immigration process to become a "meteorite".

I particularly like "Aurora Particles" and "Fireballs"

The strewnfield is the area where meteorites from a single fall are dispersed. There are two ways strewnfields can form:
1. Mid-Air Fragmentation happens when a large meteoroid enters the atmosphere and explodes due to thermal shock, sending pieces of material over a wide area.
2. Impact fragmentation is exactly how it sounds, usually creating a circular crater and spreading debris in a smaller, concentrated area.

About 4 billion meteoroids hit Earth every single day; that's about a hundred tons per day of meteor dust. However, most are so tiny as to be harmless, even though they travel at hundreds of kilometers per second.

Photo of Arizona Meteor Crater I took from an airplane!
(Click for closeup)

The largest meteorite known to hit Earth has never been moved from where it fell in Africa. Weighing 60 tons and landing about 80,000 years ago, the "Hoba West" has been declared a national monument by the government of Namibia.

To protect it it from the estimated 100,000 meteoroids that will hit it during it's 20-year life span, the International Space Station is covered with Kevlar ... about a foot thick! This same material is used to manufacture bullet-proof vests.

Perseid Meteor Shower

Meteor showers are named after the constellations they appear to be falling from.

In Sylacauga, Alabama in 1954, a woman named Ann E. Hodges was napping in her home when an 8-pound meteorite smashed through her roof, bounced off a radio and struck her in the arm and hip. This was the first recorded meteoroid to hit a human being on Earth.

If you happen to find a fallen meteorite, the Meteoritical Society demands that you donate 20% or 20 grams (whichever is smaller) for research, but it's all right to sell the rest... unless you live in South Africa, where meteorites are protected under National Heritage Law and must be surrendered whole to authorities.