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Laika
She was a Soviet space dog, and the first dog to orbit the Earth. She was also the first orbital death. After undergoing training with two other dogs she was chosen as occupant of Sputnik 2. Laika was left up in space and died because she overheated. It's a sad story, but Laika's sacrifice was a memorable one because she proved that humans and other living creatures could survive in space. -
John Glenn
He was the first American to orbit the earth, being one of seven astronauts chosen by America's Space Program. He flew the Friendship 7. He was also the third American in space. After his flight, he earned the Space Congressional Medal of Honour for his contributions. In October 1998, he became the oldest person to ever fly in space, aboard the Discovery STS-95 at age seventy seven. -
Valentina Tereshkova
The first ever woman in space, she was chosen out of over four hundred applicants, and later five finalists, she was chosen to fly the Vostok 6. She was also noted to be the first civilian in space. On the flight, she tried out different tests on herself to see how the female human body reacted to spaceflight. -
Neil Armstrong
The famous, very well known commander of Apollo 11 and the first man on the moon. Known for the famous quote, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." It was only America's first attempt to land on the moon. Before he became an astonaut for NASA Armstrong worked as a test pilot, and served in war, at one point. -
Sally Kristen Ride
She was born in Los Angeles, California, and works as an American physicist. She was the first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7. She helped develop the Space Shuttle`s robot arm, and at the time, had been the youngest American in space. During this flight the crew performed pharmacutical experiments and deployed two communications sattelites. -
Dr. Marc Garneau
Born on February 23rd, 1949, in Quebec City, he earned a degree in engineering physics and electrical engineering. He became the first Canadian astronaut when he was chosen for the new Candian Space Program (CAP) along with six other applicants out of over 4 000. He shot up into space on the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-41-G in 1984. After being promoted to captain in 1986 he left the Navy to serve as CAP's deputy director. -
Dr. Roberta Bondar
She was the first Canadian woman in space, a crew member of the NASA Space Shuttle Discovery. During this trip, she performed experiments in the ship`s Spacelab. Her purpose as part of the crew was to study the works of the human brain, and treating different things from motion sickness to even cerebral palsy. -
Dafydd Rhys Williams
A physician, specializing in the field of emergency medicine, Dave was selected to become one on NASA's astronauts. After a few years of intense training he boarded to space shuttle of Columbia on a 16 day flight where they orbitted the earth 256 times. In July 1998 he served as the director of a Space Life Sciences Directorate in Huston. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2002) after becoming an aquanaut. He retired from his atsronatut duties and returned to medicine in 2008.
