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Author
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Topic: Space explorers elected to public office
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Rodina
Member Posts: 836
From: Lafayette, CA
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 12-19-2002 12:42 PM
  
By my count, four astronauts have run for political office — and two politicians have gotten to play astronaut. - John Glenn (D-Ohio)
- Harrison Schmidt (R-NM)
- Jack Swigert (Republican Representative-elect, 1982)
- Jack Lousma (Republican Senate Candidate, Michigan, 1984)
Along with Congressional "observers": I'm aware that Yuri Gagarin was appointed to the upper Soviet house, but that's not a meaningful political office. Am I missing anyone? |
Aztecdoug
Member Posts: 1405
From: Huntington Beach
Registered: Feb 2000
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posted 12-19-2002 01:44 PM
Wm. J. "Pete" Knight was elected to the California State Senate in 1996. He previously served four years in the State Assembly and eight years on the Palmdale City Council as both Councilman and the city's first popularly elected Mayor.Colonel Knight flew the X-15 rocket research aircraft to 4,520 MPH (mach 6.7), establishing the still unbroken world speed record in a fixed wing aircraft. He earned astronaut wings for another X-15 flight to 280,000 feet in altitude. |
collshubby
Member Posts: 591
From: Madisonville, Louisiana
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-19-2002 04:51 PM
I checked the website "The Political Graveyard" and it looks like you got all of the politicians who have been in space. |
eurospace
Member Posts: 2613
From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 12-20-2002 04:32 AM
Quite a high number of cosmonauts held political office during the Soviet regime. Even after that, Gherman Titov was a member of the Duma, Vitaly Sevastyanov is, I think, still in office, as is Elena Kondakova and was Svetlana Savizkaya. French astronaut Claudie Haigneré is currently State Minister for Science and Technology. |
GerryM
Member Posts: 244
From: Glenside PA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 12-20-2002 10:48 AM
Al Worden ran for Congress in Florida in the 12th district for the Republican nomination in 1982. |
Ed beck
Member Posts: 227
From: Florida
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-20-2002 08:13 PM
I know it is easy to miss this one, but Donn Eisele {CMP Apollo 7} was elected to the city council of the Town of Wilton Mannors in Broward County Florida. I do not know how many terms he served, or if he had any higher political aspirations, but was indeed elected to political office. |
Rex Hall
Member Posts: 170
From: London, England
Registered: Oct 2001
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posted 12-21-2002 01:46 AM
A number of Russians have served as members of the Russian Duma. Gherman Titov was a senior member of the Our Russia Party as is currently Elena Kondakova.Svetlana Savitskaya and Vitaly Sevastyanov are leading members of the Communist Party. Sevatyanov was involved in the siege of the White House when Boris Yeltsin's troops fired on the building. In the Soviet era, a number of cosmonauts served as members of the Supreme Soviet. Yuri Gagarin, Viktor Gorbatko, Valentina Tereshkova and Gherman Titov were certainly members. Claudie Haigneré is a junior minister in the French Government. Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa, the Mongolian cosmonaut, is the Minister of Defense of that country. Toktar Aubakirov is a special advisor to the President of Kazakhstan. |
dom
Member Posts: 862
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 03-10-2020 01:06 PM
Sad to see cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova being used in the Russian parliament as part of Vladimir Putin's efforts to become leader for life. Valentina Tereshkova, an MP who as a Soviet cosmonaut became the first woman to fly to space, proposed the amendment as part of a series of constitutional changes going to a nationwide vote on 22 April.While addressing the Duma on Tuesday, Tereshkova said: “The very existence of an opportunity for the current president [to be re-elected], given his major gravitas, would be a stabilising factor for our society.” Astronauts and cosmonauts being used by politicians is nothing new but this is particularly shameful. We are witnessing the first woman in space (remember that fact) cheerleading a leader who decriminalized violence against women to appease conservative Russia and remain in power! |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3302
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-10-2020 01:37 PM
Marc Garneau has served as a Member of Parliament since his election in 2008. He has been Canada's Minister of Transport since 2015. |
india-mike
Member Posts: 79
From: Linnich, Northrine Westfalia, Germany
Registered: Jan 2012
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posted 03-10-2020 01:42 PM
Let's talk about... - Pedro Duque (Member of Spanish Government)
- Marc Garneau (Canadian Minister of Transport)
- Marcos Pontes (Member of Brazilian Government)
- Roman Romanenko, Maxim Surayev, Elena Serova (Members of Russian Duma)
- Vladimir Remek, Franco Malerba, Umberto Guidoni (former Members of European Parliament)
- Julie Payette (Governor-General of Canada)
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c670cj
New Member Posts: 5
From: Renton, Washington
Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 03-10-2020 04:16 PM
Bill Anders was the Road Commissioner for El Lago, Texas in the mid 60's. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1517
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 03-10-2020 06:38 PM
Mike Foreman is currently mayor of Friendswood, Texas. |
Henry Heatherbank
Member Posts: 248
From: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 03-10-2020 11:41 PM
quote:
Originally posted by c670cj:
Bill Anders was the Road Commissioner for El Lago, Texas in the mid 60's.
Is that correct? In the mid-60s I would have thought Bill Anders would be up to his neck in backup Gemini assignments and then preparations for Apollo. I don't see how as a USAF officer on TDY to NASA he could have been allowed to hold public office, let alone have the time. Happy to stand corrected, but this does not compute, Will Robinson... |
c670cj
New Member Posts: 5
From: Renton, Washington
Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 03-11-2020 04:59 PM
Yeah, I lived in El Lago then and first met him while he was putting in a stop sign at the end of Tallowood Drive and Lakeshore Drive as part of his official duties. Was watching him and his two kids digging the hole for it on a 95 degree summer afternoon in Houston and he said, "Don't just look, get over here and help..." I guess you could call it first hand knowledge. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1517
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 03-11-2020 05:30 PM
Didn't Mike Collins, in "Carrying The Fire," mention something about Anders actually getting out of his car to pick up a cigarette butt some other driver had tossed? Maybe it was in that official capacity.  |
c670cj
New Member Posts: 5
From: Renton, Washington
Registered: Jul 2016
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posted 03-12-2020 08:36 AM
In fact, most of the astronaut corps in those early days were encouraged to take leadership roles in civic activities in order to bolster their image as the "All-American" types that they obviously already were. A big "public relations" component to all that they did.And as a final observation, Anders was also head of the National Space Council, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and was Ambassador to Norway, all public service slots (albeit not elected per se, just approved by Congress). |
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