Soyuz TM-33 crew (L-R): Konstantin Kozeyev, Viktor Afansayev, Claudie Haignere
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-33, launched October 21, 2001, carried a new crew and supplies to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afansayev (Roscosmos), Claudie Haignere (ESA) and Konstantin Kozeyev (Roscosmos). The crew returned to Earth on October 31 on Soyuz TM-32.
Soyuz TM-33 returned to Earth on May 5, 2002 with Commander Yuri Gidzenko (Roscosmos), Roberto Vittori (ESA) and Mark Shuttleworth, a space tourist from South Africa.
Herb Alpert's Rise, a single released from his solo album Rise, reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 October 20, 1979. It remained there for two weeks. It spent one week as #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts, peaked at #4 on the R&B charts and #17 on the disco charts.
It won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
Another of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation series Disaster aired October 19, 1991. After the Enterprise hits a quantum filament, the ship is incapacitated, isolating the crew. Troi, Miles O'Brien and Ensign Ro are trapped on the bridge. Picard is trapped in a turbolift with three children and his child-skills are put to the test. Riker, Data, Worf and Keiko O'Brien are stuck in Ten Forward. In a hilarious break from the drama, Keiko goes into labor and Worf has to deliver the baby.
Felicette, the first cat in space, blasted off October 18, 1963 from France's launch pad in Algeria. Her flight lasted 13 minutes and she experienced five minutes of weightlessness. She was recovered safely, but two months later, Felicette was euthanized so scientists could examine her brain.
RED, released October 15, 2010, is one of the best action-comedies ever filmed. It starred Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich and Morgan Freeman. Mary Stuart Masterston, Karl Urban, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox and Richard Dreyfus finished out the ensemble cast.
Bruce Willis plays a retired CIA agent (RED = Retired Extremely Dangerous), living quietly when he realizes that someone is trying to kill him. He contacts his old team to find out why he is being targeted.
Helen Mirren won the Alliance of Women Film Journalists for Actress Defying Age and Ageism for her work in RED.
Kathleen Rubins, born October 14, 1978 in Farmington, Connecticut, has spent 115 days in space aboard the International Space Station. She launched in Soyuz MS-01 in July 2016. She took part in Expeditions 48 and 49. She has conducted two EVAs for a total time of 12 hours, 46 minutes.
Soyuz TMA-5, launched October 14, 2004, carried members of Expedition 10 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Salizhan Sharipov (Roscosmos), Leroy Chiao (NASA), and Yuri Shargin (Roscosmos).
Shargin stayed eight days and returned on Soyuz TMA-4. Sharipov and Chiao remained on the ISS until they returned in April 2005 with Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori (ESA).
One of the most popular episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, Mudd's Women, aired October 13, 1966. It was the first appearance of Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd.
The USS Enterprise intercepts Mudd's spaceship and finds out he is transporting three beautiful women to become wives for men on a distant outpost. However, it appears that Mudd has enhanced the women's beauty by a "Venus drug" of which the effect is only temporary.
The Enterprise needs dilithium for its power nacelles, but Mudd and his women interfere with Kirk and crew trying to get the crystals.
Actress Ronalda Douglas, born October 12, 1952 in Northridge, California, starred in Saturday morning TV show the Secrets of Isis as Rennie Carol with the beautiful Joanna Cameron and Brian Cutler.
Soyuz TMA-13 crew (L-R): Richard Garriott, Yury Lonchakov, Michael Fincke
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-13, launched October 12, 2008 to the International Space Station, was the 100th manned Soyuz spacecraft. Its crew consisted of Yury Lonchakov (Roscosmos), Michael Fincke (NASA) and Richard Garriott (space tourist).
Lonchakov and Fincke were the crew of Expedition 18 and remained on the ISS until April 2009.
Richard Garriott is the son of Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott. Space tourist Charles Simonyi returned with Lonchakov and Fincke in April 2009.
Oleg Novitskiy, born October 12, 1971 in Belarus, has been in space twice.
His first trip into space was as commander of Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012 to the International Space Station. He remained on board for Expeditions 33 and 34. He returned to Earth in March 2013.
His second trip was aboard Soyuz MS-03 as commander in November 2016 to the ISS. He was part of the crews of Expeditions 50 and 51, returning to Earth in June 2017.
Soyuz 6, launched October 11, 1969, was the first of three consecutive launches which would see three spacecraft in orbit at once for the first time in history. Soyuz 6's crew consisted of Commander Georgy Shonin and Valeri Kubasov. They were supposed to take high-quality photography of Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 docking. Due to unknown problems, the rendezvous never took place.
Donna Summer released her fourth studio album Four Seasons of Love October 11, 1976. It was her third gold album and it peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200. Both singles released went to #1 on the disco charts.
Astronaut C. Gordon Fullerton, born October 11, 1936 in Rochester, New York, went into space twice.
He served on support crews for Apollo 14, 15, 16 and 17. Later he was part of two-man crews which piloted the Space Shuttle Enterprise during the Approach and Landing tests.
His first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-3) as pilot in March 1982. The main objective of the mission was to continue testing the Canadarm manipulator system.
His second and final flight was aboard Challenger (STS-51-F) as commander in July-August 1985. The primary payload was Spacelab 2.
Fullerton passed away in August 2013 from complications from a stroke he suffered in 2009.
John Grunsfeld, born October 10, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois, is a veteran of five space shuttle flights.
His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-67) as mission specialist in March 1995. The mission carried an experiment sponsored by the Australian Space Office.
His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997 to the space station Mir. During the mission, Grunsfeld made a call to the NPR show Car Talk, which was hosted by two fellow graduates of MIT.
His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) as mission specialist in December 1999. It was a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Grunsfeld conducted two EVAs with fellow astronaut Steven Smith.
His fourth mission was aboard Columbia (STS-109) as mission specialist in March 2002. It was another (the fourth) servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Grunsfeld conducted three EVAs with fellow astronaut Richard Linnehan.
His fifth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-125) as mission specialist in May 2009. It was the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Grunsfeld conducted three EVAs with fellow astronaut Andrew Feustel.
His total EVA time is 58 hours, 30 minutes. His time in space is 58 days, 15 hours, 3 minutes.
Handsome actor Scott Bakula, born October 9, 1954 in St. Louis, Missouri, rose to fame while starring in Quantum Leap, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama. But he is more affectionately known as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise.
Soyuz 25 crew (L-R): Vladimir Kovalyonok, Valery Ryumin
Soyuz 25, launched October 9, 1977, was the first flight to the new Salyut 6 space station, launched just ten days prior. Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin. The mission was aborted when the cosmonauts failed to dock with Salyut 6. Kovalyonok and Ryumin were both rookies and subsequently, the Soviet space program instituted a new rule such that every crew had to have at least one person who had flown in space previously.
Carlos Noriega, born October 8, 1959 in Lima, Peru, is a veteran of two space shuttle flights and the first Peruvian-born astronaut.
His first mission into space was aboard Atlantis (STS-84) as mission specialist to space station Mir, in May 1997.
His second and final mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-97) to the International Space Station as mission specialist in December 2000. During the mission he conducted three EVAs with fellow astronaut Joseph Tanner, for a total of about 19 hours.
Soyuz TMA-01M crew (L-R): Scott Kelly, Aleksandr Kaleri, Oleg Skripochka
Mission patch
Soyuz TMA-01M, launched October 7, 2010, carried the members of Expedition 25 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Kaleri (RSA), Oleg Skripochka (RSA) and Scott Kelly (NASA). It was the first flight of the new TMA-M spacecraft, which Kelly praised for the upgrades.
They continued experiments on life sciences, remote sensing and activities of the European Space Agency. They returned to Earth in March 2011.
Karen Nyberg, born October 7, 1969 in Parker's Prairie, Minnesota, has been in space twice.
Her first trip into space was aboard Discovery (STS-124) as mission specialist in May-June 2008. She served as the lead for all the robotic arm operations.
Her second and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-09M as flight engineer to the International Space Station, launched in May 2013. She was part of the crew of Expedition 36. They returned to Earth in September.
Mirror, Mirror, the fourth episode of the second season of Star Trek (the original series) first aired October 6, 1967, one of the best episodes of the series. A transporter malfunction sends Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly), Scotty (James Doohan) and Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) into an alternate universe where they find the Enterprise is run by barbarians (the crew's counterparts), where they advance by murdering superior officers.
It has spawned episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise.
STS-41 crew (L-R): Bruce Melnick, Robert Cabana, Thomas Akers, Richard Richards, William Shepherd
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41), launched October 6, 1990, deployed the Ulysses probe, which was sent to study the polar regions of the sun. Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Richards, Pilot Robert Cabana, Bruce Melnick, William Shepherd and Thomas Akers.
Ulysses was launched only six hours after Discovery took off. The crew returned to Earth October 10.
Liu Yang, born October 6, 1978, is the first Chinese woman in space. She was launched in June 2012 as part of the crew of Shenzhou 9 to the space station Tiangong 1. She remained in space for 13 days.
Pavel Popovich, born October 5, 1930, went into space during the early years of the Soviet space program.
His first flight was on Vostok 4 in August 1962. It was the first time two cosmonauts were in space at the same time, in different spacecraft. Fellow cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev was aboard Vostok 3, having launched the day before Popovich.
His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz 14 as commander in July 1974 with Yuri Artyukhin to Salyut 3. It was also the only flight to the space station since Soyuz 15 failed to dock, and then Salyut 3 was deorbited in January 1975.
Popovich died in September 2009 after suffering a stroke.
Soyuz TM-20 crew (L-R): Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, Ulf Merbold
Mission patch
Soyuz TM-20, launched October 4, 1994, was the 20th mission to the Mir space station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Viktorenko, Yelena Kondakova, and Ulf Merbold (ESA).
Merbold returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-19, while Viktorenko and Kondakova remained on the space station as part of Mir EO-17. Valeri Polyakov, who had been on board since Mir EO-15 returned to Earth with them in March 1995.
STS-51-J crew (L-R): Robert Stewart, David Hilmers, Karol Bobko, William Pailes, Ronald Grabe
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched on her maiden voyage October 3, 1985. Its crew consisted of Commander Karol Bobko, Pilot Ronald Grabe, David Hilmers, Robert Stewart, and William Pailes. The four-day mission carried a payload for the Department of Defense.
Kathryn Sullivan, born October 3, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights and the first American woman to walk in space. She joined the US Naval Reserve in 1988 and retired as captain in 2006.
Her first flight was aboard Challenger (STS-41-G) in October 1984 as mission specialist. During this mission she conducted the first EVA for an American woman with fellow astronaut David Leetsma.
Her second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-31) as mission specialist in April 1990. The crew deployed the Hubble Space Telescope during the flight.
Sullivan's third and final was aboard Atlantis (STS-45) as mission specialist in March-April 1992. The crew carried a payload of instruments for scientific experiments, all non-deployable.
Soyuz TMA-7, launched October 1, 2005, carried the crew of Expedition 12 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Valeri Tokarev (Roscosmos) and William McArthur (NASA). Space tourist Gregory Olsen was also on board.
Tokarev and McArthur returned to Earth in April 2006 with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes.
