Billy Dee Williams, born April 6, 1937 in New York City, is best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars Episodes V: The Empire Strikes Back, VI: Return of the Jedi, and IX: The Rise of Skywalker. He's also voice Calrissian in many of the spin-offs and Lego versions. He received two Saturn nominations for his role as Calrissian.
He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his performance in Brian's Song.
Bruce McCandless II, born June 8, 1937 in Boston, Massachusetts, went into space twice. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1958, and received flight training from the Naval Air Training Command in Pensacola, Florida and in Kingsville, Texas.
He was selected as an astronaut in the NASA Astronaut Group 5 at age 28, the youngest member of the group. He served as mission control capsule communicator (CAPCOM) during Apollo 11. He served as CAPCOM for Apollo 14, as well as astronaut support crew. He was reassigned to the Skylab program, serving as CAPCOM for Skylab 3 and Skylab 4.
His first mission was aboard Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-41-B) as mission specialist in February 1984. During the mission he performed the first untethered spacewalk, using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), traveling 322 ft away from the shuttle. He spent eight days in space.
His second mission was aboard Discovery (STS-31) as mission specialist in April 1990. He was planning to conduct an EVA with fellow astronaut Kathryn Sullivan to fix and array that could not be deployed through ground control, but the problem was fixed without the need of an EVA. He returned to Earth after 5 days in space.
Incredible and under-rated actress Barbara Babcock, born February 27, 1937 in Fort Riley, Kansas, appeared in two Star Trek episodes and provided voices in four others. She first appeared in A Taste of Armageddon in 1967 and then Plato's Stepchildren in 1968. She voiced Trelane's mother in Squire of Gothos, Isis the cat in Assignment: Earth, the Tholian commander in The Tholian Web, and Zetar in The Lights of Zetar.
She appeared in three episodes of Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work in Hill Street Blues.
Gobind Behari Lal, born April 1, 1889 in Delhi, British India, became the first Indian to win the Pulitzer Prize. He attended the University of California, Berkeley in 1912 and served as Science Editor for the San Francisco Examiner from 1925-1930.
He shared the Pulitzer Prize for Reporting in 1937 with John O'Neill, William Laurence, Howard Blakeslee and David Dietz for their coverage of science at Harvard University.
He was one of the founding members of the National Association of Science Writers.
He passed away of cancer in October 1982 of cancer.
Igor Volk, born April 12, 1937 in the Ukraine, went into space once aboard Soyuz T-12. He flew as a research cosmonaut on the three man mission to Salyut 7 in July 1984. He didn't return to space.
Richard Truly, born November 12, 1937 in Fayette, Mississippi, flew on two space shuttle missions at the beginning of the program.
He started as a test pilot for the Enterprise's take-offs and landings. He first went into space on Columbia (STS-2) on his birthday in 1981 with Joe Engle.
His second trip was on Challenger (STS-8) as commander in August-September 1983. This was the first flight for African-American astronaut Guy Bluford,
He served as NASA's Administrator for 1989 to 1992, during which time he commanded Voyager 1 to take one last picture of Earth before its mission ended. The pic has become known as the Pale Blue Dot photograph.
Joseph P. Allen, born June 27, 1937 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. After obtaining his PhD in Physics from Yale, he was selected as an astronaut by NASA in August 1967 and completed flight training Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma(!).
His first flight was as mission specialist on Columbia (STS-5) in November 1982. He was scheduled to perform a spacewalk with fellow astronaut William Lenoir, but was cancelled when Lenoir got sick.
His second and final mission was on Discovery (STS-51-A) in November 1984 also as mission specialist. He completed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Dale Gardner, logging almost 11 hours in space.
Vitaly Zholobov, born June 18, 1937 in the former Soviet Union, went into space once aboard Soyuz 21. He and fellow cosmonaut Boris Volynov spent 49 days aboard Salyut 5. Their original two-month stay was cut short when a noxious odor was detected on board.
Valentin Bondarenko, born February 16, 1937 in Ukraine, was an ill-fated cosmonaut in the early years of the Soviet space program. He attended an Air Force college and became a pilot, rising to the rank of Senior Lieutenant in 1959.
The next year, he was selected as a cosmonaut in 1960. On March 23, 1961, Day 10 of a 15-day endurance test, Bondarenko was in a low pressure altitude chamber with an atmosphere of at least 50% oxygen. He removed some monitoring biosensors attached to his body, and washed off his skin with a cotton ball that had been soaked in alcohol. He threw the cotton ball away but it landed on a hot plate, which he was using to brew tea. The cotton ignited. Bondarenko tried to smother the flames but the sleeves of his coveralls were wool, and also caught fire in the oxygen-rich atmosphere.
It took the monitoring doctor almost half an hour to open the chamber because of the pressure difference. By that time, Bondarenko's clothing had burned until all the oxygen had been depleted and he had suffered third-degree burns over most of his body, only the soles of his feet were spared, since his boots had protected them from the flames.
Yuri Gagarin served as a 'deathwatch officer' for several hours until Bondarenko died of shock 16 hours after the accident. Less than three weeks later, Gagarin made his his historic Vostok 1 flight.
The news and circumstances of Bondarenko's death were not released at the time and the Soviets even went so far as to air-brush him out of pictures, since he had already appeared in group photos and films. Details of his death were finally made public about 1980.
There has been speculation that if the Soviets had released information surrounding Bondarenko's death in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, the same fate would not have happened to the Apollo 1 crew. However, NASA was fully aware of the dangers of 100% oxygen atmospheres by 1966.
So if NASA knew about the dangers, why did they not do something to prevent it? Did they gamble with the astronauts' lives? Did they feel it wasn't necessary to change the atmosphere, because they thought something like that would never happen?
What do you think?
As with Chaffee, Apollo 1 astronaut whose birthday we celebrated yesterday, a crater on the far side of the moon has been named for Bondarenko.
Sigmund Jahn, born February 13, 1937 in Saxony, Germany, is the first German native and first East German cosmonaut. He was born before Germany was split into West and East Germany in 1945, and went into space in 1978. The Soviet Union emphasized his accomplishment as an East Germany victory over West Germany.
Jahn's only mission in space started aboard Soyuz 31, launched August 26, 1978 to Salyut 6 with Valery Bykovsky. They returned aboard Soyuz 29 on September 3.
Beautiful, versatile and funny actress Suzanne Pleshette, born January 31, 1937 in New York City, is best known and loved for her role as Emily Hartley on the Bob Newhart Show which ran from 1972-1978.
She showed that she could be a dramatic actress as well, receiving a nomination for a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy for her role as Leona Helmsley in a TV movie made about the "Queen of Mean".
Suzanne was nominated for her comedy, being nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy for Lead Actress in a Comedy, for the Bob Newhart Show.
She and her The Birds co-star Veronica Cartwright both appeared as mothers (not in the same episodes though) in Will & Grace, Pleshette playing Karen Walker's mother, Cartwright playing Jack McFarlane's mother.
She received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in January 2008 just days after she passed away from respitory failure.
Karol Joseph "Bo" Bobko, born December 23, 1937 in New York City, is a veteran of three Space Shuttle flights. He graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1959 and then received part of his pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma!
He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1969 and was pilot for the maiden voyage of Challenger (STS-6) in April 1983.
He served as commander of Discovery (STS-51-D) in April 1985.
His third and final flight was commander of Atlantis (STS-51-J) in October 1985.
Bruce McCandless II, Space Shuttle astronaut, passed away December 21, 2017. He is best known for being the first astronaut to fly untethered from his spacecraft. On the fourth day of mission STS-41-B aboard Challenger in February, Bruce operated the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) for the first time. McCandless ventured out about 320 feet from the shuttle.
His second and final mission was on Discovery (STS-31) in April 1990, when he helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.
McCandless passed away at his home in California. He was 80 years old.
Boris Borisovich Yegorov, born November 26, 1937 in Moscow, flew on Voskhod 1, his only spaceflight. He earned a doctorate in medicine, specializing in disorders of the sense of balance. When he was chosen to fly aboard Voskhod 1, he became the first physician in space. His fellow cosmonauts were Vladimir Komarov and Konstantin Feoktistov.
Columbia blasted off November 12, 1981 (STS-2) and returned two days later, becoming the first time a spacecraft has tone into space and returned twice. Her crew consisted of Commander Joe Engle and Pilot Richard Truly (who celebrates his 80th birthday today!). The mission was scheduled to last 5 days but one of the three fuel cells that produced electricity and drinking water failed so it was shortened to 2 days. NASA also cancelled the Canadarm tests but the crew stayed awake during the Loss-of-Signal (LOS) periods and tested the arm.
Richard Truly, born November 12, 1937 in Fayette, Mississippi, was the first person to be launched into space on his (43rd) birthday. He became the 8th administrator of NASA in May 1989.
Talented and beautiful Loretta Swit, born November 4, 1937 in Passaic, New Jersey, is best known for her role as Major Margaret Houlihan in the long running show M*A*S*H. She was nominated 10 times for a Primetime Emmy and won twice. She was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes for the same role.
Ms. Swit received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 1989.
She starred in an episode of Murder, She Wrote as a friend of Jessica Fletcher, so as usual, her character was accused of murder.
I really enjoyed her as herself on the Muppet Show.
J. R. R. Tolkein's classic, children's fantasy novel The Hobbit was published September 21, 1937, to critical and financial acclaim. His publishers were so impressed by its success they requested a sequel. Tolkein complied and wrote the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a classic tale that is enjoyed today. The Hobbit has never been out of print and has been adapted for stage, television, movies, radio and even video games. It is estimated that The Hobbit might have sold up to 100 million copies since 1937.
Robert "Bob" Crippen, born September 11, 1937, was aboard the first ever Space Shuttle flight, STS-1, on Columbia in April 1981. He served as commander on 3 more missions, each on Challenger. His second mission, with Sally Ride, was STS-7 in June 1983, during which satellites for Canada and Indonesia were released.
His third mission (STS-41-C) in April 1984 involved the first satellite repair operation, capturing, fixing and then releasing the Solar Maximum Mission satellite.
His final mission (STS-41-G) in October 1984 was the first 7-man crew. He was scheduled to command STS-62-A but that mission was cancelled after the Challenger explosion.
He has been inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, but more importantly, he was voted one of 1981's sexiest men by Playgirl magazine!
Everyone's favorite helmsman (now Captain) Hikaru Sulu, George Takei was born April 20, 1937 in Los Angeles. He was only 4 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and spent the next four years with his family in several internment camps. He's starred in both "Hawaii Five-O" series and he married his partner Brad in 2008.
