Author
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Topic: Astronaut couples and family relations
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East-Frisian Member Posts: 586 From: Germany Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-23-2005 06:10 AM
I have heard, that Shannon Walker and Andrew Thomas are married. Does anyone know since when? |
KSCartist Member Posts: 2896 From: Titusville, FL USA Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 05-23-2005 01:25 PM
Per NASA's Astronaut Biographies website, they are married. |
ASCAN1984 Member Posts: 1049 From: County Down, Nothern Ireland Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 05-24-2005 04:13 AM
Were they married before Shannon Walker joined the Astronaut Office? I think these are the only two astronauts currently married who still reside in the corps. That's nice though. I am a bit of a romantic. |
Henry Heatherbank Member Posts: 244 From: Adelaide, South Australia Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-24-2005 07:17 AM
So let's list the once — or still — married astronaut couples: - Hoot Gibson and Rhea Seddon (still married)
- Sally Ride and Steven Hawley (divorced)
- Linda Godwin and Ron Sega (?)
- Mark Lee and Jan Davis (?)
- Andy Thomas and Shannon Walker
Have I missed anybody?On other familial relationships, there was David Low (son of George), and there are the infamous Kelly twins, Mark and Scott. Have there been any other such astronaut family relationships? It always surprised me that more of the children of those involved in the space program in the 50/60s didn't move into similar fields and try out for the astronaut program, like David Low. Perhaps its because they saw first hand the toll it took on their fathers and their families. Kris Stoever would be in a perfect position to comment, above and beyond what comes through in her and Scott Carpenter's (her father's) book. I recall that by about the 1980 astronaut selection group, NASA saw a number of candidates whose careers had deliberately been fashioned to maximize chances of selection. This may have been a quote attributable to John Young shortly after STS-1. Anyway, that is common place nowadays, but it seemed to come as a surprise to 1980s NASA that people would chart a course heading so deliberately toward NASA. Of course, some of the kids of program workers of the 1960s would have been about the right age to try out for selection in the early to late 1980s. Is anybody aware of children of astronauts who pursued a career at NASA, either as an astronaut, or in other positions? |
DavidH Member Posts: 1217 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 05-24-2005 09:07 AM
quote: Originally posted by Henry Heatherbank: Mark Lee and Jan Davis (?)
Jan Davis and Mark Lee are divorced. |
thump Member Posts: 575 From: washington dc usa Registered: May 2004
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posted 05-24-2005 09:12 AM
Jeff Wisoff and Tammy Jernigan are also married. |
eurospace Member Posts: 2610 From: Brussels, Belgium Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 05-24-2005 01:13 PM
Linda Godwin is married to Steve Nagel.Bonnie Dunbar was married to Ron Sega, but they are divorced now. To widen the view: - Valentina Tereshkova was married to Andriyan Nikolayev.
- Maurizio Cheli (Italy) is married to former ESA astronaut candidate Marianne Merchez.
- Claudie André-Deshays married Jean-Pierre Haigneré.
- Valeri Ryumin is married to Yelena Kondakova
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trajan Member Posts: 109 From: Chester, Cheshire, UK Registered: May 2004
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posted 05-24-2005 03:49 PM
And another, now, sadly, divorced, astronaut couple was Anna Fisher (1978) and Bill Fisher (1980) — married prior to either of their selections to NASA |
East-Frisian Member Posts: 586 From: Germany Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-25-2005 06:10 AM
Hans Schlegel is married to former Heike Walpot (ne John) German Astronaut Candidate and Mary Ellen Weber is married to Jerome Elkind (NASA Candidate). |
issman1 Member Posts: 1042 From: UK Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-26-2005 04:31 AM
Since we are on the subject of astronauts and family connections, I wonder if most Americans are aware that pilot Alan Poindexter is the son of the former Reagan national security adviser, John Poindexter? He's the very one who in the 1980s masterminded Iran-Contra and was subsequently indicted for lying to your Congress. Incidentally, his close friend is none other than Edward "Pete" Aldridge — one time payload specialist candidate and chair of the 2002 Aldridge Commission. |
DavidH Member Posts: 1217 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 05-26-2005 01:14 PM
Indeed, I didn't realize that about Poindexter. Thanks for pointing that out.On a related note, of course, Robert Satcher is the nephew of former Surgeon General David Satcher. |
pokey Member Posts: 361 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 05-26-2005 08:44 PM
Walker and Thomas updated their NASA biographies the week after the JSC Open House. They have been a couple since at least last year. So if Thomas returns to Australia after the STS-114 flight, then that puts them in bi-hemisphere marriage. |
Henry Heatherbank Member Posts: 244 From: Adelaide, South Australia Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 05-26-2005 09:34 PM
Thomas comes from my home town, so there is a lot of local press about his return to space on STS-114. Thomas has been quite public about "putting out feelers" for a job/career in Australia after STS-114, which he says will be his last flight. Apparently the response has been luke warm, as industry in Australia sees little use for a guy who is trained to operate a spacecraft. I expect that will all change, but it is an incredibly frustrating thing to hear that someone as experienced and as accomplished as Thomas would not be in high demand in a number of industry sectors, not all aerospace related. The point he makes is that an astronaut is more than flying in space; it involves a lot of high level managerial and project-related skills. He also talks about dividing his time between Adelaide and Houston, to support Walker in her NASA career. |
ColinBurgess Member Posts: 2031 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 07-21-2005 12:04 AM
Andy Thomas told me late last year that he and Shannon had known each other "for about six years." |
thump Member Posts: 575 From: washington dc usa Registered: May 2004
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posted 05-04-2009 03:58 PM
Megan McArthur and Robert Behnken are also married... |
Delta7 Member Posts: 1505 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 08-06-2009 01:17 PM
Doug Hurley and Karen Nyberg are now married. |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-15-2018 10:46 AM
From Air&Space magazine, in the rarest of jobs, it's even more rare for your spouse to be an astronaut, too. ...there have been more than a dozen astronaut couples who've both experienced spaceflight firsthand. |