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

Carl Sagan
Adam Johann Schall
Giovanni Schiaparelli
Wally Schirra
Maarten Schmidt

Harrison Schmitt
David Scott
Russell “Rusty” Schweickart
Harlow Shapley
Alan Shepard

Carl Sagan
b. 11-9-1934; Brooklyn, NY
d. 12-20-1996

Carl Sagan popularized astronomy with his PBS program Cosmos, and his novel “Contact” was the basis of a movie by the same name.

• You Are Here: “Look at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. ...”
• “The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers, drawn from the entire planet and all our history, to instruct us without tiring, and to inspire us to make our own contribution to the collective knowledge of the human species. I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” ~ Carl Sagan
• Carl Sagan's Cosmic Calendar

Johann Adam Schall von Bell
b. 5-1-1591; Cologne or Lüftelberg, Germany
d. 8-15-1666; Beijing, China

Johann Adam Schall von Bell was a Jesuit missionary to China where the emperor appointed him to a post in the Chinese observatory in connection to mathematics and predicting celestial events.

Giovanni Schiaparelli
b. 3-14-1835; Savigliano, Italy
d. 7-4-1910

Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli was the first to show that the Perseid and Leonid meteor showers were associated with comets. He also observed Mars and believed he saw “seas” and “continents”; he named the long straight formations canali in Italian. Years later the “canals” were shown to be an optical illusion.

Schiaparelli studied at the University of Turin.

Walter Schirra
b. 3-12-1923; Hackensack, New Jersey
d. 5-4-2007; Cape Kennedy, FL

Wally Schirra, one of the original Mecury 7 astronauts, was also part of the Gemini and Apollo programs. Schirra was the first person to go into space three times, logging 295 hours and 15 minutes.

FYI - Schirra's parents were aviation pioneers - his father was a “barnstormer”, his mother a “wing-walker” on her husband's biplane.

Maarten Schmidt
b. 12-28-1929; Groningen, The Netherlands

Maarten Schmidt measured the distances of quasars (QUASi-stellAR radio source), extremely bright and distant active galactic nucleus.

Harrison Hagan “Jack” Schmitt
b. 7-3-1935; Santa Rita, New Mexico

Geologist Harrison Schmitt is the last man to set foot on the Moon, December 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission with Eugene Cernan and Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans.

Schmitt also served one term in the US Senate representing New Mexico.

Russell “Rusty” Schweickart
b. 10-25-1935; Neptune, NJ

Rusty Schweickart flew as the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 9 with Jim McDivitt and Dave Scott in 1969, testing systems for landing on the Moon. Schweickart suffered from space sickness that ultimately limited his space flight.

Schweickart, who has taught at Esalen Institute, is also cofounder of the B612 Foundation, a group that aims to defend Earth from asteroid impacts.

FYI -B-612 is the name of the astroid in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's “The Little Prince”.

David Scott
b. 6-6-1932; San Antonio, TX

Astronaut David Scott was an engineer, test pilot and USAF officer.

He flew with Neil Armstrong on Gemini 8 (1966), served as command module pilot on Apollo 9 (1969), and walked on the Moon on the Apollo 15 mission (1971).

Scott demonstrated Galileo's discovery about falling objects and gravity fields on the Moon.

Harlow Shapley
b. 11-2-1885; Nashville, MO
d. 10-20-1972; Boulder, CO

Harlow Shapley was one of the first astronomers to realize the Milky Way Galaxy was larger than previously thought and the Earth's Sun was in a “nondescript” area of the galaxy. He was one of the participants in the “Great Debate” of 1920 on the nature of nebulas.

Shapley had dropped out of school with a 5th grade education, but studied at home and went back to high school to become the class valedictorian. He then went to the University of Missouri, ending up with an astronomy degree. Eventually he became head of Harvard University Observatory and was also a victim of McCarthyism.

Alan Shepard in Mercury Capsule, Photographic Print

Alan Shepard
b. 11-18-1923; Derry, New Hampshire
d. 7-21-1998; Pebble Beach, CA (leukemia)

Alan Shepard, the second person and first American in space flight, (suborbital, 5-5-1961, Mercury 3), also flew in the Apollo 14 mission (1971) and was the fifth person to walk on the Moon.

FYI ~ Did you know that Shepard was related to Ulysses S. Grant, FDR, Calvin Coolidge, Conrad Aiken and Laura Ingalls Wilder as descendents of the Pilgrim Mayflower Delano family?

Deke Slayton

Donald K. “Deke” Slayton
b. 3-1-1924; Sparta, Wisconsin
d. 6-13-1993; League City, TX

Deke Slayton, a WWII pilot, was chosen as one of the original seven NASA Mercury astronauts in 1959. Grounded for a heart murmer in 1962, he was the only original Mercury member to not fly in that program. Slayton was later cleared for flight and was the docking module pilot for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Slayton then had a long career as a NASA administrator.

FYI ~ Slayton was also a Paresev (Paraglider Research Vehicle) pilot - the Paresev aircraft inspired today's hang glider configuration.

Dr. Lyman Spitzer, Photographic Print

Lyman Spitzer
b. 6-26-1914; Toledo, OH
d. 3-31-1997; Princeton, NJ

Astronomer and theoretical physicist Lyman Spitzer is best remembered for conceiving the idea of telescopes operating in outer space as well as research in star formation and plasma physics. He also worked on the development of sonar during WWII, and later as director of the Princeton University Observatory.

He was honored for his work with the naming of the Spitzer Space Telescope, one of NASA's Four Great Observatories project (Hubble Telescope, Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and the Chandra X-ray Observatory).

Spitzer was also an avid mountain climber and music lover.

Thomas Stafford

Thomas Stafford
b. 9-17-1930; Weatherford, OK

Thomas Stafford (USAF) flew two Gemini space flights, was the commander of Apollo 10 in 1969, the second manned mission to orbit the Moon, and Apollo commander of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

John “Jack” Swigert
b. 8-30-1931; Denver, CO
d. 12-27-1982; Washington, DC (bone cancer)

Jack Swigert was a member of the Apollo 13 crew, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly at the last moment. Swigert, caught in the Apollo 15 stamp incident, was eliminated from further space assignments. After leaving NASA Swigert was elected as a Representative from Colorado in 1982 but died before he could be sworn in.