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Spaceflight Participant
Spaceflight participant (russian: участник космического полета, translit=uchastnik kosmicheskogo polyota) is the term used by NASA, Roscosmos, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for people who travel into space, but are not professional astronauts. While the term gained new prominence with the rise of space tourism, it has also been used for participants in programs like NASA's Teacher in Space and astronauts designated by inter-government agreements like the Angkasawan program and the Korean Astronaut Program. Other terms used for space travelers who are not career astronauts include NASA's Payload Specialist and the RKA's Researcher-Cosmonaut. Background The Soviet Interkosmos program included participants selected from Warsaw Pact members and later from allies of the USSR and non-aligned countries. Most of these people received full training for their missions and were treated as equals, but especially after the Mir program began, were g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. NASA has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968-1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. NASA supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jake Garn
Edwin Jacob "Jake" Garn (born October 12, 1932) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who served as a United States senator representing Utah from 1974 to 1993. Garn became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' as a payload specialist during NASA mission STS-51-D (April 12–19, 1985). Prior to his time in Congress, he served as the mayor of Salt Lake City. Early life and education The son of a World War I pilot, Garn was born in Richfield, Utah. Garn also attended East High School, Clayton Middle School, and Uintah Elementary School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business and finance from the University of Utah in 1955 and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Career Senator Garn is a former insurance executive. He served in the United States Navy as a Martin P5M Marlin pilot. He also served as a pilot of the 151st Air Refueling Group of the Utah Air National Guard, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Juno
Project Juno was a privately funded campaign which selected Helen Sharman to be the first Briton in space. As the United Kingdom did not, at that time, have a human spaceflight programme (until the UK joined the human spaceflight elements of ESA's exploration programme in December 2012, which led to Tim Peake's ESA mission in 2015), a private consortium was formed to raise money to pay the Soviet Union for a seat on a Soyuz mission to the Mir space station. The Soviet Union had recently flown Toyohiro Akiyama, a Japanese journalist, under a similar arrangement. Selection A call for applicants was publicized in the UK (one ad read "Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary"), leading to 13,000 applications. Juno selected four candidates to train in the Soviet Union: * Gordon Brooks (Royal Navy physician, then 33) * Major Timothy Mace (Army Air Corps, 33) * Clive Smith (Kingston University lecturer, 27) * Helen Sharman (food technologist, 26) Eventually Mace and Sharman were s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toyohiro Akiyama
is a retired Japanese TV journalist and professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. In December 1990, he spent seven days aboard the Mir space station. He became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space, and his space mission was the second spaceflight to be commercially sponsored and funded. Akiyama was also the first civilian to use commercial space flight, and the first journalist to report from outer space. Education and career Akiyama attended and earned his bachelor's degree at the International Christian University located in Mitaka, Tokyo. He then joined the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) as a journalist in 1966. He worked for the BBC World Service from 1967–1971 before becoming a correspondent for the TBS Division of Foreign News. From 1984 to 1988, he served as TBS chief correspondent in Washington D.C. Space training On 17 August 1989, Akiyama was selected for a commercial Soviet-Japanese flight. The flight was sponsored by the TBS Corporati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Broadcasting System
formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affiliate radio network called JRN (Japan Radio Network). TBS produced the game show ''Takeshi's Castle'' and has also broadcast the ''Ultra Series'' programs and '' Sasuke'' (''Ninja Warrior''), whose format would inspire similar programs outside Japan. TBS is a member of the Mitsui ''keiretsu'' and has substantial relations with The Mainichi Newspapers Co. despite the Mainichi's lack of shareholding. History * May 1951 - was founded in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. * December 25, 1951 - KRT started radio broadcasting (1130 kHz, 50 kW, until July 1953) from Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and the frequency changed to 950 kHz. * April 1955 - KRT started TV broadcasting (JOKR-TV, Channel 6) from Akasaka-Hitotsukicho, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "reconstruction", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system, in an attempt to end the Era of Stagnation. Perestroika allowed more independent actions from various ministries and introduced many market-like reforms. The alleged goal of perestroika, however, was not to end the command economy but rather to make socialism work more efficiently to better meet the needs of Soviet citizens by adopting elements of liberal economics. The process of implementing perestroika added to existing shortages, and created political, social, and economic tensions within the Soviet Union. Fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miles O'Brien (journalist)
Miles O'Brien (born June 9, 1959) is an independent American broadcast news journalist specializing in science, technology, and aerospace who has been serving as national science correspondent for ''PBS NewsHour'' since 2010. Early life Born in Detroit and raised in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, O’Brien attended Georgetown University. In 1982, he was offered and accepted his first broadcasting position with WRC-TV in Washington, DC. He was later a reporter and anchor at TV stations in Boston, Massachusetts; Tampa, Florida; Albany, New York; and St. Joseph, Missouri. O’Brien joined CNN in 1992. He is a third-generation general aviation pilot. His father, a private pilot, shared his love of flying with him at an early age. His first flights were in small Cessnas and Pipers rented by his father. O'Brien's paternal and maternal grandfathers were also both pilots. CNN correspondent and anchor While with CNN in Atlanta and New York, O’Brien served as CNN's science, space, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Challenger Disaster
On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft in flight. The mission, designated STS-51-L, was the tenth flight for the orbiter and the twenty-fifth flight of the Space Shuttle fleet. The crew was scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study Halley's Comet while they were in orbit, in addition to taking school teacher Christa McAuliffe into space. The latter resulted in a higher than usual media interest and coverage of the mission; the launch and subsequent disaster were seen live in many schools across the United States. The cause of the disaster was the failure of the two O-ring seals in a joint in the shuttle's right solid rocket booster (SRB). The record-low temperatures of the launch had stiffened the rubb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christa McAuliffe
Sharon Christa McAuliffe ( Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who was killed on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L where she was serving as a payload specialist. She received her bachelor's degree in education and history from Framingham State College in 1970 and her master's degree in education, supervision and administration from Bowie State University in 1978. She took a teaching position as a social studies teacher at Concord High School in New Hampshire in 1983. In 1985, McAuliffe was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to the NASA Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher to fly in space. As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and teach two lessons from ''Challenger''. On January 28, 1986, the shuttle broke apart 1 minute 13 seconds after launch, killing all onboard. After her death, several schools ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teacher In Space Project
The Teacher in Space Project (TISP) was a NASA program announced by Ronald Reagan in 1984 designed to inspire students, honor teachers, and spur interest in mathematics, science, and space exploration. The project would carry teachers into space as Payload Specialists (non-astronaut civilians), who would return to their classrooms to share the experience with their students. NASA cancelled the program in 1990, following the death of its first participant, Christa McAuliffe, in the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster (STS-51-L) on January 28, 1986. NASA replaced Teachers in Space in 1998 with the Educator Astronaut Project, which required its participants to become astronaut Mission Specialists. The first Educator Astronauts were selected as part of NASA Astronaut Group 19 in 2004. Barbara Morgan, who was selected as a Mission Specialist as part of NASA Astronaut Group 17 in 1998, has often been incorrectly referred to as an Educator Astronaut. However, she was selected as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Michener
James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club; he was known for the meticulous research that went into his books. Michener's books include ''Tales of the South Pacific'', for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948; ''Hawaii''; ''The Drifters''; ''Centennial''; ''The Source''; ''The Fires of Spring''; ''Chesapeake''; '' Caribbean''; '' Caravans''; ''Alaska''; ''Texas''; ''Space''; ''Poland''; and ''The Bridges at Toko-ri''. His non-fiction works include ''Iberia'', about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir, '' The World Is My Home''; and ''Sports in America''. '' Return to Paradise'' combines fictional short stories with Michener's factual description ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Cronkite reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombings in World War II; the Nuremberg trials; combat in the Vietnam War; the Dawson's Field hijackings; Watergate; the Iran Hostage Crisis; and the assassinations of Assassination of John F. Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and The Beatles, Beatles musician Murder of John Lennon, John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Apollo program, Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of an Ambassador of Exploration award. Cronkite is known for his departing catchphrase, "And ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
