Favorite Astronauts

[Swigert]

What were your favorite astronauts, from Yuri Gagarin to Dug Hurely? They could be well known, or hardly ever heard of. However, for sake of the discussion, let's keep replies of astronauts that have flown at least in a sub-orbital flight. You may pick up to 3. (And an explination would be nice, but is not required. Also, since is not human, despite its holiness, it does not count as an astronaut.)

For me, it is definitely James Lovell, Jack Swigert (obviously), or Edwin Aldrin. Being denied landing on the moon can't be easy, and still, Swigert, Lovell (and Haise)'s strong spirits, efforts, and cooperation with mission control made it easier. And as for Aldrin, being second isn't easy. He still went places average joes only dreamed of.

So who are your favorite astronauts? Let's get a great discussion started!

 

[Urwumpe]

John Young (One of the coolest characters in the US space program, flew three different kinds of spacecraft in his career)
Story Musgrave (The most recognizable Shuttle astronaut... also one of those who really worked hard to get into space)
Thomas Reiter (One of the few astronauts I met in my life)

 

[N_Molson]

- Alexei Leonov (that Voskhod EVA was heroïc given the risks, was saved by his amazing athletical and endurance qualities ! Also he was on ASTP. A symbol to himself.)
- Eugene Cernan (the last living being on the Moon... And when you read his biography, you see how hard he worked to get there.)
- Vladimir Komarov (Went on a near-suicide mission, manually piloted that crippled Soyuz 1 like no one could have, and still got stabbed in the back by the parachutes system glued in some plastic resin... A real tragedy...)

 

[Star Voyager]

-John Young

-Jack Swigert

-Dave Wolf

-Hoot Gibson

-Mike Mullane

-Al Wordon

-Eileen Collins

-Chris Ferguson

-Al Crews

-Clay Anderson

-Bill Readdy

-Frank Culbertson

-Gene Cernan

-Gus Grissom

-Deke Slayton

-Jack Lousma

...in no particular order, and I'm probably missing some.

 

[Castor]

Vladimr Komarov - For the same reasons as those mentioned by N_Molson above.

Pete Conrad - For overcoming all odds (even working around acute dyslexia) to achieve his dream

Gordon Cooper - For the skillful manner in which he manually piloted the Mercury capsule, especially during the critical reentry maneuver.



Others on my list: Gus Grissom, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, John Young, Bruce McCandless, Alexei Leonov

Edwin Aldrin. Being denied landing on the moon can't be easy

Losing his chance to be first in space can't have been any less depressing for Gherman Titov.

 

[Matias Saibene]

Yuri Gagarin
Neil Armstrong
and commanders of Apollo 13.

 

[Swigert]

Losing his chance to be first in space can't have been any less depressing for Gherman Titov.

I was referring to the Apollo 13 crew, but still, very true.

 

[OrbitalConfusion]

Easy... Gagarin, and Hadfield. Gagarin because well, he had guts. Hadfield because well... He made the ISS fun. Hadfield cared about what he did and equally cared about including us in the goings on at the ISS. Nobody can compare or has yet to his enthusiasm. He made things fun. The others, I think dont care so much and when they must do interviews and what not, they do it because they have too.


I guess thats a little harsh, but When he came back everything on the ISS kinda came to a screeching halt. I demand they pack him and his family up and send them all back for another six months. This way he wont get lonely. (inb4 retired)

 

[ADSWNJ]

Story Musgrave (The most recognizable Shuttle astronaut... also one of those who really worked hard to get into space)

He sure did. I have the honor of knowing Story personally and I've seen him present on many topics over the years, including his childhood and path to the Air Force and then to NASA. He is an astonishingly complex and fascinating man. He's also the only person ever to fly to orbit on all 5 production shuttles.

 

[Kyle]

Charlie Bolden, seeing as he's the only one I've had an extended conversation with (before he was NASA administrator). What an amazing guy.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I think Don Pettit shows as much enthusiasm as Chris Hadfield, but Hadfield is better at interviews.

Story Musgrave for the win though.