Chris Dickerson, born in New York City, is a former bodybuilder. He is the first black, first openly gay and oldest (43) Mr. Olympia, which he won in 1982.
He was inducted into the International Federation of Bodybuilding Hall of Fame in 2000. Although retired since 1994, he still trains and conducts seminars.
Marie Maynard Daly, born April 16, 1921 in Queens, New York, was the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in Chemistry awarded by Columbia University in 1947. Her father, an immigrant from the British West Indies, attended Cornell University, planning to major in chemistry but was unable due to lack of funds.
Marie majored in chemistry receiving her degree from Queens College in 1942. She received her Master's degree from New York University and her PhD from Columbia University in 1947. Her thesis was entitled "A Study of the Products Formed by the Action of Pancreatic Amylase on Corn Starch".
While teaching at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, she investigated the effects of cigarette smoke on lungs. She passed away October 28, 2003 in New York City.
Clockwise from bottom left: Kenneth Reightler, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Ronald Sega, Sergei Krikalev, Jan Davis, Charles Bolden
Mission patch
The first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir program, Discovery (STS-60) was launched February 3, 1994. Her crew consisted of Commander Charles Bolden Jr., Pilot Kenneth Reightler, Jr., Mission Specialist Jan Davis, Mission Specialist Ronald Sega, Mission Specialist Franklin Chang Diaz and Mission Specialist Sergei Krikalev, the first cosmonaut to fly on a U.S. Space Shuttle.
Several attempts were made to deploy the Wake Shield Facility, an experimental science platform, but problems arose each time. It was finally deployed on a later space shuttle mission.
On February 7, Good Morning America performed a video hookup between Discovery (over the Pacific Ocean) and the three cosmonauts on Mir (over the southern United States).
Frederick Gregory is the first black man to pilot a space shuttle mission and then command one. Born January 7, 1941 in Washington DC, he became an astronaut in 1978.
His first flight was on Challenger (STS-51-B) in April-May 1985 as pilot, becoming the first African-American man to pilot a space shuttle.
He served as commander of Discovery (STS-33) in November 1989, becoming the first African-American to command a shuttle mission.
His third and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-44) as commander again, November-December 1991.
Versatile and comedic actor, Geoffrey Hughes, born February 2, 1944 in Cheshire, England, is probably best known as Hyacinth's white trash brother-in-law on Keeping Up Appearances from 1990-1995.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996 but recovered. It returned in 2010 and he had to retire from acting. He passed away July 2012 on the Isle of Wight.
Daniel Tani, born February 1, 1961 in Pennsylvania, is a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.
His first mission was on Endeavour (STS-108) in December 2001 as a mission specialist to the International Space Station. He completed an EVA with Linda Godwin that lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes.
Before his next flight, he served as an aquanaut on NEEMO 2, NASA's underwater laboratory Aquarius for a week under the Atlantic Ocean.
His second trip to space was aboard Discovery (STS-120) to the ISS in October 2007. He remained aboard the ISS as part of Expedition 16, during which he performed the 100th EVA in support of the building the ISS with Peggy Whitson.
He returned to Earth aboard Atlantis (STS-122) in February 2008.
Vladimir Aksyonov, born February 1, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of two Soyuz missions. Selected as a cosmonaut in March 1973, his first mission was Soyuz 22 in September 1976. The mission's main purpose was to observe NATO exercises near Norway.
His second flight was Soyuz T-2 in June 1980 to Salyut 6.
