The world has seen the four astronauts shooting up to reach the International Space Station in the first SpaceX operational trip. Of the four, two are military officers, one is the first person in decades to launch aboard three kinds of rocketships and the fourth is a space shuttle flight controller.
Let’s look at each of the astronauts
Crew commander Mike Hopkins
This 51 year old Missouri native is an Air Force colonel and a former space station resident. He was first selected by NASA as an astronaut in 2009.
He was a member of the Expedition 37/38 crew and was logged in space for 166 days. During the stay in the ISS, Hopkins conducted two spacewalks that came to 12 hours and 58 minutes.
Hopkins holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois. He also has a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University.
The astronaut is very much interested in football and used to play the games at college. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in January 1992. After working at various capacities at various locations, he was selected as a special assistant to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and stayed i the position until he commenced astronaut training.
Victor Glover
Glover is a pilot and lone space rookie. This 44 year old from Los Angeles area is the first African American astronaut to move into the space station for a long stay. He is a commander in the U S Navy. He is a graduate from the U S Air Force test Pilot School. Like Hopkins, Glover also played during his college days.
He has three Masters of Science —
- in Flight Engineering
- Systems Engineering
- Military Operational Ar and Science
Shannon Walker
This is not the first time that Walker, 55, is on a mission to the space station. This physicist was a flight controller at NASA’s Johnson Space Center before becoming an astronaut in 2004. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, Master of Science and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Space Physics from Rice University. Her studies at the graduation level mainly focused on the atmosphere of Venus.
She was born on June 4, 1965 in Houston, Texas. Walker is married to astronaut Andy Thomas. .
Soichi Noguchi
The 55 year old Japanese Astronaut is also not new to the space station. He is the only third person to launch on three types of spacecraft. Noguchi flew to the space station in 2005 aboard Discovery on the first shuttle mission after the Columbia accident in 2003. He set again in 2009 on a Russian Soyuz rocket.
A three-time graduate from the University of Tokyo, Noguchi became an astronaut in 1996.
