Astronomers, Astrophysicists, Astronauts, “Co...-”
for the social studies and science classrooms, theme decor.

Eileen Collins
Michael Collins

Charles “Pete” Conrad
Gordon “Gordo” Cooper

Eileen Collins
b. 11-19-1956; Elmira, NY

Astronaut Eileen Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle (STS-63 & STS-93). Collins has also served as a professor of mathematics and flight instructor at the US Air Force Academy.

Collins has been recognized as one of the top 300 women in history by the Encyclopedia Britannica and inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame.

Michael Collins, Gemini 10 Astronaut, Photographic Print

Michael Collins
b. 10-31-1930; Rome, Italy

Michael Collins, one of only 24 people to fly to the moon, was in lunar orbit as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first and second humans to set foot on the moon. Collins first space flight was in Gemini 10 with John Young. Collins took two Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) popularly known as spacewalks.

Charles “Pete” Conrad
b. 6-2-1930; Philadelphia, PA
d. 7-8-1999; California (motorcycle accident)

Charles “Pete” Conrad was the third man to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 12, November 1969 mission with Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon in lunar orbit. Conrad also set an eight-day endurance record on the Gemini 5 mission (1965) with Gordon Cooper, commanded Gemini 11 mission (1966 with Richard Gordon), and commanded the Skylab 2 mission and crew (Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin) to repair significant launch damage.

Astronaut LeRoy G. Cooper Flying F-102 Jet Plane for Flight Practice, Photographic Print

LeRoy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper
b. 3-6-1927; Shawnee, OK
d. 10-4-2004; California (Parkinson's Disease)

“Gordo” Cooper was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, and flew 222 hours in space. He was the first US astronaut to sleep in space and to be seen live on TV; Cooper also asserted his belief in UFOs in Leap of Faith: An Astronaut's Journey into the Unknown.

Copernicus
b. 2-19-1473; Torn, Royal Prussia, Poland
d. 5-24-1543

Copernicus, a polymath scholar adept in mathematics, law, medicine, diplomacy, government and religion, was the first European astronomer to propose a scientifically based heliocentric cosmology with the Sun at the center of the solar system.

Prior to Copernicus other astonomers such as the ancient Greek Aristarchus of Samos and Philolaus, and Indian astronomer Aryabhata, had proposed the Sun as stationery and the Earth in orbit.

Copernicus quotes ~
• “Mathematics is written for mathematicians.”
• “Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, ‘with both eyes open.’”
• “I can well appreciate, Holy Father, that as soon as certain people realise that in these books which I have written about the Revolutions of the spheres of the universe I attribute certain motions to the globe of the Earth, they will at once clamour for me to be hooted off the stage with such an opinion.”
• “I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned.”

Robert Crippen
b. 9-24-1937; Beaumont, TX

Robert Crippen, a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, was the pilot of the First Space Shuttle flight and flew for the Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4 missions and for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission, as well as commander of three additional Shuttle flights.