Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000

Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007

posted 05-01-2012 04:08 PM               

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By 'astronaut wings', you must be referring to the special pilots' wings awarded by the Air Force, Navy/Marines and Army to their respective service astronauts; in the case of the Army, no M/G/A astronaut carried them.

The Navy had no 'basic/senior/command' designations for their wings. As for the Air Force, only Joe Engle carried his senior pilot astronaut wings over from the X-15 program, later flying the shuttle into space of course.

I'll leave a more detailed listing of AF pilot-astronauts and their accumulated flying hours (which determines their type of pilots' wings) to another forum member.

Posts: 396
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Jan 2012

posted 05-04-2012 09:36 PM               

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Maybe this has nothing to do with what you're asking, but I read recently where Alan Bean took his silver astronaut pin to the moon with him. At the end of the second EVA he pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it into Surveyor Crater. When he got home, he received a new gold astronaut pin signifying the fact that he had flown a mission.

I'm not sure if they were pins or wings, but a lot of astronauts carried their pin or the pins of other astronauts to the moon. Some of those are still there.

In addition to Alan Bean, the Apollo 15 crew left their PPK's in the lunar module. They lost wedding rings, photos, flags, and yes, pins, most of which belonged to their friends and family members.

Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007