RIP Apollo 9 astronaut Jim McDivitt

[maumann]

It's actually quite impressive that many of the astronauts from the Apollo era have lived this long.

Astronaut James McDivitt, NASA's Apollo 9 commander, dies at 93 (usatoday.com)

 

[Regan MacNeil]

I’m guessing it’s because they were young at the time, fit, non-smokers, etc. Anyway, RIP.

 

[maumann]

Amazingly, two of the three Apollo 13 astronauts (and Ken Mattingly, who got kicked off the flight) are still alive.

Borman and Lovell are 94. Aldrin and Stafford are 92. David Scott is 90. Anders is 89. Harrison Schmidt and Charlie Duke are 87.

The Right Stuff included the survival gene, no doubt.

 

[BTExpress]

McDivitt is the only only astronaut to walk on the surface of The Brady Bunch.

 

[maumann]

McDivitt is the only only astronaut to walk on the surface of The Brady Bunch.

Sweater vests, groovy!

 

[maumann]

The crocheted sweater vest, the massive shirt collars, the odd tie, the pornstar mustache. The 1970s need to stay locked in a history book behind a glass compartment.

 

[Slacker]

The crocheted sweater vest, the massive shirt collars, the odd tie, the pornstar mustache. The 1970s need to stay locked in a history book behind a glass compartment.

Acetate shirts, double-knit bell bottoms, 4-inch-wide ties,
3-inch-wide belts ... and platform shoes with big, block heels.

The disco era was not kind to men.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Amazingly, two of the three Apollo 13 astronauts (and Ken Mattingly, who got kicked off the flight) are still alive.

Borman and Lovell are 94. Aldrin and Stafford are 92. David Scott is 90. Anders is 89. Harrison Schmidt and Charlie Duke are 87.

The Right Stuff included the survival gene, no doubt.

Chuck Yeager would turn 100 on Feb. 13 of next year. He died in December 2020, so lump him in with the others in terms of longevity.

He would certainly have been among the Apollo crew if not for the December 1963 test flight accident that he barely survived. After that he settled into the USAF command structure.

 

[BTExpress]

It's my understanding that Yeager had no ambition to be an astronaut. Considered being strapped into a seat mostly controlled by Houston as not really flying. Thus, the "Spam in a can" remark toward the Mercury astronauts in The Right Stuff.

 

[Starman]

NASA also had fairly major disciplinary problems with Scott Carpenter as well as Gordon Cooper in the Mercury program, involving lack of adherence to scheduled mission performance bordering on outright insubordination, so the idea they'd have taken on the famously mavericky Yeager seems a bit far-fetched.

 

[Starman]

Glenn was the final survivor of the Mercury Seven. The last surviving member of the Soviet Vostok group of cosmonauts is ... Valentina Tereshkova.

 

[qtlaw]

Acetate shirts, double-knit bell bottoms, 4-inch-wide ties,
3-inch-wide belts ... and platform shoes with big, block heels.

The disco era was not kind to men.

View attachment 14590

That’s me at my Freshman Hop!!!

 

[Liut]

It's my understanding that Yeager had no ambition to be an astronaut. Considered being strapped into a seat mostly controlled by Houston as not really flying. Thus, the "Spam in a can" remark toward the Mercury astronauts in The Right Stuff.

+1., plus Yeager wasn't a college graduate.