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Author
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Topic: Navy Blue Angels and NASA astronauts
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WSTFphoto
Member Posts: 70
From: Las Cruces, NM, USA
Registered: May 2005
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posted 12-23-2006 07:59 PM
   
Were any astronauts former members of the United States Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-23-2006 08:09 PM
The late astronaut Charles "Chuck" Brady was a flight surgeon for the Blue Angels. Otherwise, I am unaware of any others with a connection to the squadron. |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 12-25-2006 12:48 PM
I was at Kennedy Space Center for STS-1 in April 1981. A few days before launch we were driving up to the press site when the Blue Angels made a low pass over the Columbia on the launch pad. We were too late to see them well, but it was an impressive moment. |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 12-25-2006 07:47 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
The late astronaut Charles "Chuck" Brady was a flight surgeon for the Blue Angels.
I contacted Chuck Brady with congratulations soon after his selection was announced, and in his reply he sent me a nice fold-up pamphlet on the 1989 Blue Angels pilots with small photos and thumbnail biographies, and he had signed his photo. I think he may have sent these out before getting his NASA lithos. No other NASA astronaut was on the pamphlet. |
SPACEFACTS
Member Posts: 301
From: Germany
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted 12-27-2006 12:41 AM
Roland E. "Auz" Aslund (born July 20, 1927, died October 20, 1987) run for the NASA astronaut group 2 - without success. He was member of the Blue Angels in 1953/54. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-22-2016 03:05 PM
The Blue Angels just took to the air here as part of the annual Wings Over Houston air show. On Friday (Oct. 21), astronaut Reid Wiseman flew with the team during their practice. Just flew with the Blue Angels - that was TOTALLY INSANE!!!!The Blue Angels were a huge part of the path I took in life. Motivating to see these aircraft in the skies above Houston.  
According to Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, the late Alan Poindexter had also flown on a practice run with the Blue Angels. Dex did many years ago... told us about the incredible stick forces. While in Houston, the squadron also toured Johnson Space Center. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 10-22-2016 08:47 PM
Wow, what views. When I saw the Blue Angels this year, thought more astronauts preempted their careers in Navy Blue Angels, but their flying skills are stupendous, nonetheless. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 10-23-2016 08:49 AM
I think I read somewhere that Alan Bean had been accepted into the Blue Angels around the same time he was selected as an astronaut. Maybe his "Plan B." |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-23-2016 01:44 PM
A UPI article from Nov. 8, 1969 mentions Bean was offered a spot on the Blue Angels. "He turned it down, applying for the astronaut corps instead." |
music_space
Member Posts: 1179
From: Canada
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 10-23-2016 06:21 PM
The Blue Angels will be associated with astronauts forever. The 2008 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) show coincided with an aerial show including the Navy outfit, and several among us attended the event in the ASF VIP zone. This was for me the most memorable informal event with astronauts in attendance. |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 10-24-2016 08:39 PM
I don't think you will see too many. By the time they get the flight hours in, they are at a choice to go to test pilot school or flight demo team. Also going with the flight demo team they are more of a long term military career person. Not that astronauts or test pilots are not, but the demo team pilots are normally going for higher military command. When you look at the number of pilots that become astronauts, flight demo, and test pilots are all very small number. Doing all three would be like hitting all the numbers on the Powerball twice. |
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