Tag: pilot

The Next Canadian Astronaut

ryan1 Comment
This guy is everything you expect in an astronaut.  At least that was my first thought when I was looking at his biography.  David St. Jacques was one of only two candidates (along with Jeremy Hansen) chosen in the 2008 Canadian Astronaut draft, the third in our nation’s history. He has a degree in Engineering Physics, a Ph.D. in Astrophysics, and is a medical doctor.  And that’s just his formal education.  He’s an avid mountaineer, cyclist, skier, and sailor.  Not to mention his advanced certification as a scuba diver, his commercial pilot’s license, and his ability to converse in Russian, Spanish, and Japanese. And so...

The Trailblazing Heroism of Vladimir Komarov

ryan5 Comments
This is a story that not many know, about a Russian cosmonaut named Vladimir Komarov.  He was one of the first Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s during the cold war space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.  He was the first cosmonaut to fly on more than one space mission, and he sadly became the first human being to die due to space flight. An Aerospace Engineer and test pilot, he was one of the few exceptional candidates accepted into Air Force Group One, the original Soviet cosmonaut program.   He wasn’t medically fit for the program on...