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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Quarantined ahead of 5th trip to space, Whitson inducted with trailblazer Harris to Astronaut Hall of Fame
MERRITT ISLAND — Four-time spaceflight veteran Peggy Whitson had a good excuse for not showing up Saturday for her own induction ceremony to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. She's in quarantine to go to space again. Whitson is slated to command the private Axiom Space Ax-4 mission flying in a new SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft set to launch as early as June 8. So her presence at the ceremony held under the suspended Space Shuttle Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex was purely virtual. 'Please know that my heart is with you. It is a privilege to be a part of such an esteemed group of individuals who have dedicated their lives to exploring the unknown,' she said in a message recorded at an undisclosed location nearby. Fellow inductee and two-time space shuttle astronaut Bernard Harris, who became the first Black person to perform a spacewalk, was on hand, though. He was joined by dozens of former astronauts and NASA officials as both his and Whitson's plaques were revealed — becoming the 110th and 111th members of the hall of fame created in 1990 by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and represented at the visitor complex with its own building honoring inductees. While both had significant careers with NASA, Whitson has spent a little bit more time in space — 37 times more. Chosen as an astronaut candidate in 1996, Whitson's first trip to space was in 2002 on Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-111 for her first of four stays on board the International Space Station. She flew home on STS-113, also on Endeavour, and then returned twice on Soyuz missions in 2007 and 2016. She became the first female commander of the space station — and to date is its only two-time commander. After retiring from NASA she joined private company Axiom Space and commanded its second commercial mission Axiom 2 in 2023. The four trips have amounted to more than 675 days in space — giving her the the all-time record for women in space, as well the record for an American astronaut. That total is set to grow by another two weeks once Ax-4 is completed. 'I applied to NASA's astronaut training program four times over nine years, and was denied. After 10 years and my fifth try of applying, I finally made it. It's only in retrospect that I can say those years of rejection were good for me,' she said. 'Those years of being refused a chance at my dream gave me an incredible experience as a leader, a builder of teams and a member of international partnerships. 'As it turned out, all of those were critical to my career as an astronaut — each mission, each spacewalk and each experiment conducted on board the International Space Station has been a step toward understanding our universe and improving life here on Earth.' Harris was chosen as an astronaut candidate in 1990 and flew his first mission — STS-55 — on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993 followed by STS-63 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995. The second flight, a dress rehearsal flight for docking missions with the Russian space station Mir, wasn't supposed to feature a spacewalk but the dominoes fell into place setting up Harris' landmark experience. 'In truth, I didn't know i was the first African American until I got back inside and I got the call that President Clinton wanted to talk to me,' he said. 'I kind of went like, 'What for?'' Both 68-year-old Harris born in Temple, Texas in 1956, and 65-year-old Whitson, born in Beaconsfield, Iowa in 1960, cited the Apollo 11 moonwalk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as their inspiration to become astronauts. 'The moon landing, when I was 9 years old, seemed to make space attainable,' Whitson said. 'My 9-year-old self thought that astronaut had to be the ultimate job. 'So thanks to the moon landing, maybe even a little bit Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, as well as my first ride in the Cessna 150 with my Dad, that spark grew into a passion for space exploration.' Harris, who was 13 when history was made, said he wrestled with other events of the time. 'I was old enough to go through the early 60s, the civil rights movement,' he said. 'I could turn one channel and see some of the greatest accomplishments of human beings at that time and turn the channel and see Blacks fighting for their right to vote or to exist depending on what part of the country that they were in.' He said he still marvels at how his 13-year-old mind was able to meld those events together. 'I came to the conclusion that even though I didn't see anybody who looked like me in the program — there were no women in the program, no people of color in the program that we could see … But I decided that if I didn't see someone who looked like me I would be the first to try and go break that ceiling.'
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Give Kids the World selects new CEO
Give Kids the World Village Inc. has announced its new leader. Caroline Schumacher, currently the CEO of Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, will become president and chief executive of the Kissimmee-based nonprofit in June. Schumacher previously worked with Give Kids the World in volunteer services, guest services and operations leadership for almost two decades. 'Stepping into the role at Give Kids the World feels like coming full circle, honoring Henri Landwirth's vision in a new way, for a cause that has always been close to my heart,' Schumacher said in a news release Tuesday. Landwirth, a hotel owner and philanthropist, helped found both Give Kids the World and the Orlando-based Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. He died in 2018. Schuamcher takes over the Give Kids the World leadership from Pamela Landwirth, former wife of Henri Landwirth, who left the organization in January after three decades. 'Caroline brings a deep personal connection to the mission of Give Kids the World and a proven record of innovative leadership,' said John Nichols, chairman of the organization's board. Give Kids the World Village is an 89-acre resort that hosts children with critical illnesses and their families free of charge. It has been in operation since 1986. It has served more than 200,000 families. dbevil@
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Neil Armstrong's Children: All About the Late Astronaut's Sons Mark and Rick and Daughter Karen
Neil Armstrong was famously the first man to walk on the moon. But at home, his three children — Mark, Karen and Rick — just knew him as "Dad." Neil welcomed his kids with Janet Shearon Armstrong, to whom he was married for 38 years, from 1956 to 1994, according to Neil's biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong. In mid-1956, Neil and Janet lost a child when Janet spontaneously miscarried. (Neil and Janet later divorced.) Neil's daughter, Karen, died of pneumonia when she was 2 years old after six months of treatment for an inoperable brain tumor. The loss devastated the family, especially Neil, who entered his name for astronaut selection only a few months after her death. 'The death of his little girl caused him to invest those energies into something very positive and that's when he started into the space program.' June said in First Man. While it may seem extraordinary to watch a parent walk on the moon, to Neil's sons, it was part of his job, Rick told The New York Times in September 2018. 'I intellectually get it,' he said. 'But internally I'm not sure I will ever get it. It's sort of just my dad.' Here's everything to know about Neil Armstrong's kids, Rick, Mark and Karen. Neil and Janet Armstrong's elder son, Eric Alan "Rick" Armstrong, was born in Lancaster, Calif., on June 30, 1957. As a little boy, Rick loved to visit the park with his mother and sister Karen, where he rode the merry-go-round and swing. He was also an avid swimmer, per Neil's biography. Rick was 12 years old when he watched his father walk on the moon, he told Fox News in July 2019. He had been selected to play in an all-star baseball game, but had to skip it, because he was in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to watch his father, per The New York Times. 'When he stepped off, nobody in the room heard what the words were because they were all, 'What did he say?' ' he told Fox News. 'I heard it and I said, 'Something about a small step,' but at the time, it wasn't at all clear what was going on. I always remember that.' The impact of the Apollo 11 launch stuck with Rick, he told Fox News. 'The inspiration that people from all over the world got from that program to me, that is the legacy of Apollo,' he said. In 1979, Rick received a bachelor's degree in biology from Wittenberg University and went on to work as a marine mammal trainer for many years, per his bio on the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's website. Nearly a decade later, in 1988, he began working with his brother at a software development startup in Ohio, where he stayed until 1994. Today, he's a freelance software developer and consultant. He resides in Ohio with his wife, Mary. Rick has continued on his father's legacy via his work on the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, where he is a member of the board of directors. The foundation offers funds to students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics, per the website. In 2018, Rick and Mark initiated a series of auctions to sell their dad's belongings. As of July 2019, they had sold $16.7 million worth of merchandise, including Neil's childhood teddy bear and a preschool report card he signed, according to The New York Times. Neil and Janet welcomed their only daughter, Karen Anne Armstrong, on April 13, 1959, in Lancaster, Calif. Neil felt especially close to his daughter, whom he called 'Muffie,' per his biography. 'How he loved Rick [his firstborn], but when Karen was born, he was just a different man,' June told his biographer. On June 4, 1961, Karen took a fall at a park she frequented with her mother and brother. She had a nosebleed and a potential concussion, so Janet took her to the doctor. After a series of tests, Karen was diagnosed with a glioma of the pons, a malignant tumor growing within the middle part of her brain stem. Doctors began an X-ray treatment to try to shrink the tumor, which caused Karen to lose all of her balance. Initial radiation was followed by six weeks of outpatient treatment, where she learned how to crawl and eventually walk again. However, Neil continued to consult with doctors, including his sister June's husband, Dr. Jack Hoffman, a physician with a practice in Wisconsin. 'I'm the eternal optimist, but my husband told me, 'No, she'll be dead within 6 months,' ' June said, per the biography. Karen died on Jan. 28, 1962, six months after her diagnosis and on her parents' sixth wedding anniversary. Neil showed a strong exterior during his daughter's funeral, "though everyone knew he was suffering deeply," Hansen wrote in Neil's biography. 'People who knew Armstrong well indicated Neil never once brought up the subject of his daughter's illness and death," he wrote, per Slate. "In fact, several of his closest working associates stated they did not know Neil ever had a daughter.' Neil and Janet welcomed their son Mark Stephen Armstrong on April 8, 1963, in Houston, Texas, per Neil's biography. Although Mark was young when he watched his father walk on the moon, he can still remember the emotions he felt that day. 'It was exciting,' he said in an October 2016 interview with The Museum of Flight. "I was pretty sheltered from the dangers involved, so I didn't really appreciate ... all the things that could go wrong." Mark grew up close to other astronaut families, who were neighbors. He spent time with Pete Conrad's family, attending cookouts and playing in the pool with his kids. When he visited his father in the post-flight quarantine, he did so alongside Buzz Aldrin's family. Mark graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from Stanford University in 1986. He went on to work as a software writer consultant for Macintosh computers. He then worked as the vice president of engineering at Pharos Technologies, Inc., followed by administrative and executive roles with Symantec Corporation, WebTV Networks, Microsoft and Scenario Learning. In 2012, Mark and Rick attended an astronaut reunion and gala at the Museum of Flight, which inspired Mark to join the museum's board of trustees. Mark is married to Cincinnati lawyer Wendy Armstrong, who represented Mark and Rick during an investigation into a wrongful death claim against Mercy Health Fairfield Hospital, where Neil died at age 82 on Aug. 25, 2012, after complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Mercy Health settled out of court for $6 million, which was given to Neil's sons, sister, brother and grandchildren, per The Cincinnati Enquirer. Read the original article on People
