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Author Topic:   USMA Department of History astronaut poster
Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-19-2018 11:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From the U.S. Military Academy's Department of History on Twitter:
Check out our new department poster! We are highlighting West Point "Leaders Of Character" Anne Mcclain, Frank Borman, Edward White, and Buzz Aldrin who all shot for the stars and made history with NASA.

p51
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Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011

posted 10-19-2018 04:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
That's a little ironic as only LTC Anne McClain actually served in the Army.

In any of the service academies, you can chose which branch you want to go to when you graduate. Most go with the service their academy was for, but a few jump ship to another branch.

The USAF Academy isn't that old (the first class signed in at Lowry AFB in 1955 before the campus was built), so most of the old school USAF pilots were West Pointers back then as there was no other option for them.

Jonnyed
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Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 10-19-2018 05:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Seems like quite a slight to not also feature other very prominent West Pointers that served as astronauts like Michael Collins, David Scott, Al Worden...

There are other WP astronauts of course but to leave Collins, Scott and Worden off? Bad taste in my opinion.

Also, they've got Anne McClain listed there. I in no way want to be pejorative of astronaut McClain but what space history has she made that they are currently teaching at West Point (as claimed in the caption of the poster) compared to Collins et al.?

David C
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Posts: 1014
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012

posted 10-19-2018 07:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for David C     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by p51:
...were West Pointers back then as there was no other option for them.
Not true, many, including Apollo astronauts went to Annapolis.

Agree that McClain, and in a more prominent position than Borman (no less, really) is an odd choice.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-19-2018 07:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Think about the primary audience for this poster: today's cadets. Borman, Aldrin and White are their grandfather's (if not great grandfather's) generation.

McClain is closer to their parents' age, one generation removed and much more relatable.

Jonnyed
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Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 10-19-2018 07:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Robert, your point is well-taken but it's the poster's tag line that makes McClain just a bit of the odd-man out (no tongue-in-cheek intended).

Unless I'm terribly misinformed, what space flight has McClain done yet? None.

(And please no one get the impression that I am attacking McClain — she seems like quite the impressive person and high achiever, of course.)

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 10-19-2018 07:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
McClain's first spaceflight will be Soyuz MS-11, which until last week was scheduled for a late December launch (and may now lift off even earlier) — which adds another element to the poster: timeliness.

She is the first female USMA graduate to become an astronaut.

Jonnyed
Member

Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 10-19-2018 08:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well McClain was born about the same time I was first getting my driver's license so no doubt there is some generational differences in my take on things...

I have trouble with grouping "potential to make space history" with "already achieved titanic achievements in space history," but I also appreciate the appeal to younger minds.

I am a US Naval Academy grad so my competitive side also fuels my scrutiny!

West Pointers can crow all they want with the poster but they can never take away USNA's claim to Freedom 7, beloved Al Shepard, and all the other great Annapolis astronauts. "The Boat School" may be the biggest astronaut factory there is so keep trying West Point but you've got a ways to go.

Jonnyed
Member

Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014

posted 03-22-2019 06:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jonnyed   Click Here to Email Jonnyed     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Props to Anne McClain who completed nearly a 7-hour spacewalk today. Very cool and what a view! Making some great history.

astro-nut
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Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 03-23-2019 02:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for astro-nut   Click Here to Email astro-nut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just an awesome poster! I would like to have one of them to hang up on my wall, considering when I was in the U.S. Army I was sent/deployed to West Point (in 1990) for two months to help train cadets with Army Infantry skills. It was a great time at West Point and I made sure to visit astronaut Edward White's gravesite. Go Army in Space!!!

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