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In Memoriam


Waspie_Dwarf

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Comet Discoverer Thomas Bopp (1949–2018)

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An unassuming amateur astronomer forever linked to one of the greatest comets in modern history has passed away.

Thomas Joel Bopp, the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, died January 5, 2018, in Phoenix, Arizona, from liver cancer. He was 68 years old.

As word of his loss was announced on Facebook, colleague Alan Hale wrote, "I was very saddened today to learn of the passing of my friend and 'partner in crime' Thomas J. Bopp," he commented. "Our names are forever linked in history, and if there are any humans left around the year 4393 when H-B should be returning, perhaps they'll think of us, and the times in which we lived. Tom was a warm and congenial fellow, and played a good 'straight man' to my clown act whenever we appeared together."

arrow3.gif  Read more: Sky and Telescope

 

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Leonid Kadenyuk, first Ukrainian astronaut who flew on US space shuttle, dies at 67
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Feb. 2, 2018  — Leonid Kadenyuk, the first astronaut of an independent Ukraine who flew on the U.S. space shuttle in the late 1990s, has died.

Kadenyuk, 67, was on his morning run in a park in Kiev on Wednesday (Jan. 31) when he suffered a heart attack, the State Space Agency of Ukraine said in a statement to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

arrow3.gif  Read more: collectSPACE

 

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Michael O’Brien, NASA diplomat who oversaw agreements for the International Space Station, dies at 72

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Michael F. O’Brien, a former naval aviator who later served as a top NASA liaison to foreign space agencies and led the team that secured agreements for the establishment of the International Space Station, died Feb. 19 at his home in Springfield, Va. He was 72.

The cause was cancer, said a daughter, Beth O’Brien-Shepard.

arrow3.gif  Read more: The Washington Post

 

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Vladimir Lykahkov, Soviet cosmonaut who flew to three space stations, dies at 76
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April 20, 2018 — Soviet-era cosmonaut Vladimir Lyakhov, who logged almost a year in Earth orbit living aboard three different space stations, has died at the age of 76.

The Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, where Lyakhov prepared for his three space missions in Star City, Russia, confirmed he died on Thursday (April 19), noting only that it was sudden.

arrow3.gif  Read more: collectSPACE

 

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Depending on your point of view...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/obituaries/tom-wolfe-pyrotechnic-nonfiction-writer-and-novelist-dies-at-88.html

This has special meaning to me because my father grew up with Gordo Cooper.  Primarily because I was mysteriously born 9 months after the Mercury 7 were introduced.  :D  You might say that space is in my blood.  I have the Heart and Soul Nebula for my wallpaper at home and a montage of the US astronauts that we have lost on my work computer.  I have been neglectful at updating it.  They are my pictures on a wall.  Just last week, I was up in the attic tracing a wire and I knocked over a box and a poster fell out of it.  It was a poster I thought I lost long time ago.  I think my dad got it for me in the late 60s.  It was a space poster of our astronauts.  You would cut out a picture of the astronaut and find where their picture goes and then glue it into place.  It is one of my prized possessions.  It'll never see the attic ever again.

They are both gone but the adventure still lives in such stories.  "I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?"  One day we will be going back and for good into that undiscovered Country with the best pilots you've ever seen!  They are out there and not all are jockeys.  They are out there living today doing what they always do and many more have yet to be born.  But the imagination that Wolfe gave us will be their inspiration.

 

 

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2 hours ago, RavenHawk said:

Depending on your point of view...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/obituaries/tom-wolfe-pyrotechnic-nonfiction-writer-and-novelist-dies-at-88.html

This has special meaning to me because my father grew up with Gordo Cooper.  Primarily because I was mysteriously born 9 months after the Mercury 7 were introduced.  :D  You might say that space is in my blood.  I have the Heart and Soul Nebula for my wallpaper at home and a montage of the US astronauts that we have lost on my work computer.  I have been neglectful at updating it.  They are my pictures on a wall.  Just last week, I was up in the attic tracing a wire and I knocked over a box and a poster fell out of it.  It was a poster I thought I lost long time ago.  I think my dad got it for me in the late 60s.  It was a space poster of our astronauts.  You would cut out a picture of the astronaut and find where their picture goes and then glue it into place.  It is one of my prized possessions.  It'll never see the attic ever again.

They are both gone but the adventure still lives in such stories.  "I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?"  One day we will be going back and for good into that undiscovered Country with the best pilots you've ever seen!  They are out there and not all are jockeys.  They are out there living today doing what they always do and many more have yet to be born.  But the imagination that Wolfe gave us will be their inspiration.

 

Great post, thanks for sharing!  Loved that movie and the book, RIP Mr. Wolfe.

 

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Astronaut Alan Bean, Apollo moonwalker-turned-artist, dies at 86
 

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May 26, 2018  — Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, who shared his experiences as the fourth human to walk on the moon through paintings sprinkled with lunar dust, has died at the age of 86.

Bean died on Saturday (May 26) at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, as confirmed by his wife, Leslie. His death followed his suddenly falling ill while on travel in Fort Wayne, Indiana two weeks ago.

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Astronaut Don Peterson, made first shuttle spacewalk, dies at 84

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May 28, 2018 — Astronaut Donald Peterson, who trained for a classified military space station program before becoming one of the first people to spacewalk from the space shuttle, has died.

Peterson's death on Sunday (May 27) at age 84 was noted by the Association of Space Explorers, a professional society for individuals who have flown in space.

"So sad to report that we have lost another member of the astronaut family," wrote the association on its Facebook page on Monday. "Fair skies and tailwinds, Don."

arrow3.gif  Read more: collectSPACE

 

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May he RIP.  

 

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Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen, last of German rocket team, dies in Alabama

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Dr. Georg von Tiesenhausen, the last of the German rocket scientists who was part of Dr. Wernher von Braun's moon rocket team, died at his Huntsville residence Sunday night, people close to the rocket team confirm. He was 104.

arrow3.gif  Read more: The Huntsville Times

 

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Soviet female cosmonaut group's veteran dies in Moscow aged 77

Tatiana Kuznetsova, a veteran of the group of Soviet women selected to train for the first female flight into space, has died in Moscow at the age of 77

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MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. Tatiana Kuznetsova, a veteran of the group of Soviet women selected to train for the first female flight into space, has died in Moscow at the age of 77, the press service of the Cosmonauts Training Center said on Wednesday.

Kuznetsova, a retired colonel of the Soviet Air Force, died on Tuesday.

arrow3.gif  Read more: TASS



 

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Paul Spudis, planetary scientist and fierce advocate for space exploration, dies at age 66

As one of the world's leading lunar experts, Spudis long campaigned for establishing a Moon base from which humans could more easily explore distant worlds.

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Paul Spudis, a planetary scientist known for his research of the lunar surface and his desire to return humans to the Moon, died from lung cancer on August 29. He was 66.

Spudis was a senior staff scientist and former deputy directory at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, where he was integral to the success of both NASA's Moon-mapping Clementine mission and India's Moon-impacting Chandrayaan-1 mission, as well as many others.

arrow3.gif  Read more: Astronomy.com

 

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Astronaut Rick Searfoss, flew three space shuttle missions, dies at 62

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October 9, 2018  — Rick Searfoss, a former NASA astronaut who launched on three space shuttle missions before serving as a test pilot for a commercial rocket plane, has died. He was 62.

Searfoss died on Sunday, Sept. 29, at his home in Bear Valley Springs, California, according to the Tehachapi News on Friday (Oct. 5). The cause of death was not reported.

The Association of Space Explorers, which counted Searfoss among its members, posted a memorial to its Facebook page on Monday evening.

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Riccardo Giacconi, Visionary Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute

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The worldwide astronomical community mourns the loss of Riccardo Giacconi, the first permanent director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Under his leadership from 1981 to 1993, STScI developed the expertise and capabilities to direct the science mission of the Hubble Space Telescope.

arrow3.gif  Read more: HubbleSite

 

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Nancy Roman, ‘Mother of the Hubble’ Telescope, Dies at 93

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When Nancy Grace Roman was 11 years old, her family was living in Reno. She was enthralled by the stars in the clear night skies and joined with friends in forming an astronomy club.

It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with the cosmos.

When she died on Wednesday in Germantown, Md., at 93, Dr. Roman was remembered as “the mother of the Hubble.”

arrow3.gif  Read more: The New York Times

 

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Russian space pioneer Valery Bykovsky dies aged 84

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Valery Bykovsky, who was the 11th person to venture into space and who held the unbroken record for the longest solo spaceflight, has died aged 84.

Bykovsky first flew aboard a Vostok 5 spacecraft in June 1963 and would go on to take part in two more USSR missions.

His record-setting solo flight saw him spend five days in space aboard the Vostok 5, orbiting the Earth 82 times.

Bykovsky was among the first group of USSR cosmonauts alongside Yuri Gagarin, the first person to travel to space.

arrow3.gif  Read more: BBC News

 

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Owen Garriott, Skylab and space shuttle astronaut, dies at 88

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April 15, 2019

— Owen Garriott, a Skylab and space shuttle astronaut who was the first to use amateur radio from orbit, has died at the age of 88.

Garriott's death on Monday (April 15) was reported by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), an organization of international astronauts and cosmonauts that included Garriott as a distinguished member.

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Jerrie Cobb, one of the most gifted female pilots in history, has died

"We see, only, a place in our Nation’s space future without discrimination."

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Geraldyn “Jerrie” M. Cobb, a noted aviation pioneer and fierce advocate for women flying into space, died March 18 at her home in Florida, her family has revealed. She was 88.

Cobb is perhaps most well-known for her participation in what became known as the "Mercury 13," a group of 13 women who passed preliminary screening processes in 1960 and 1961 to determine their suitability as astronauts under the guidance of Dr. Randolph Lovelace. Cobb scored in the top 2 percent of all who had taken the battery of tests for candidates previously, including both women and men.

However, the privately funded effort was not officially sanctioned by NASA.

arrow3.gif  Read more: Ars Technica

 

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Chris Kraft

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Christopher C. Kraft, Jr., who died July 22, 2019, created the concept of NASA's Mission Control and developed its organization, operational procedures and culture, then made it a critical element of the success of the nation's human spaceflight programs. Kraft -- whose full name was Christopher Columbus Kraft -- joined the NASA Space Task Group in November 1958 as NASA's first flight director, with responsibilities that immersed him in mission procedures and challenging operational issues. He personally invented the mission planning and control processes required for crewed space missions, in areas as diverse as go/no-go decisions, space-to-ground communications, space tracking, real-time problem solving and crew recovery.

During the Apollo program, Kraft became the Director of Flight Operations at MSC, responsible for overall human spaceflight mission planning, training and execution. His leadership in this critical area continued through the Apollo 12 mission in 1969, at which time he became deputy director of the Center. He served as the center director from January 1972 until his retirement in August 1982, playing a vital role in the success of the final Apollo missions, the Skylab crewed space station, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the first flights of the space shuttle.

arrow3.gif  Read more: NASA

 

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ESA mourns passing of first German cosmonaut

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We are sad to learn of the passing German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn on 21 September in Strausberg, Germany, at the age of 82.

As a former GDR citizen, Sigmund trained as a cosmonaut in the Soviet Union from 1976 to 1978. On 26 August 1978, he flew on Soyuz 31 to the Russian Salyut 6 space station, before returning to Earth on 3 September 1978. Throughout the years he was a role model for adults as well as children and young people.

arrow3.gif  Read more: ESA

 

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Gennadi Manakov, cosmonaut who led two missions to Mir, dies at 69

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September 26, 2019

 — Russian cosmonaut Gennadi Manakov, who commanded two missions to the former space station Mir, has died at the age of 69.

Manakov's death on Thursday (Sept. 26) was confirmed by Roscosmos, Russia's federal space agency.

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Alexei Leonov: First person to walk in space dies aged 85

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Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who became the first person in history to spacewalk in 1965, has died aged 85.

Tethered to a spaceship by a 4.8m (16ft) cable, the Russian floated above Earth for 12 minutes.

"You just can't comprehend it. Only out there can you feel the greatness - the huge size of all that surrounds us," Leonov told the BBC in 2014.

  Read more: BBC News

 

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Heather Couper: Broadcaster and astronomer dies at 70

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Broadcaster and astronomer Heather Couper has died at the age of 70.

Dr Couper appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter and The Sky At Night programmes, as well as presenting and producing acclaimed science documentaries.

She also hosted radio series including the BBC World Service's long-running Seeing Stars and BBC Radio 4's Cosmic Quest and Starwatch.

Her best friend and business partner, Nigel Henbest, said she had died on Wednesday after a short illness.

 Read more: BBC News

The name Heather Couper may not mean much to most people, it means a lot to me.

When I was at school Heather Couper was running the Greenwich Planetarium at the Old Royal Observatory. Two school friends and myself spent virtually every Saturday attending the planetarium shows there. Heather noticed this and we got to know her. She would ask our opinion on the various lecturers that gave talks there. We got free tours of parts of the observatory that were not generally open to the public. She encouraged our fascination with astronomy.

Heather Couper is one of the reasons that I am still so fascinated with the night Sky.

RIP Heather.

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