More trivia: Track/Astronauts

[Per Andersen]

Which 2 world-class T&F athletes went on to become astronauts later in life?

[Guest]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

So by world class, you mean they made the finals at the OG or WC? That would be very impressive.

[Guest]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Buzz Aldrin - world-ranked vaulter in 1951 (13'8)
(13'8 in the air wouldn't seem very high to an astronaut, would it?) dunno the other..

[gh]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Wow! Wasn't aware of Edwin Aldrin as a vaulter. He didn't "rank"in the T&FN sense (i.e., make the World Rankings) but was =37th on the yearly list in '51.

The other astronaut was an Army teammate who finished 4th in the NCAA and competed in the OT. (Aldrin was neither an NCAA scorer nor OT contestant.) Maybe that clue will help somebody ID him.

[MJD]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

>The other astronaut was an Army
>teammate who finished 4th in the NCAA and
>competed in the OT. (Aldrin was neither an NCAA
>scorer nor OT contestant.) Maybe that clue will
>help somebody ID him.

Ed White-400 hurdler who died on the launch pad in 67 at the Cape?

[Per Andersen]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Yes, let's include Buzz Aldrin. I was not aware of him as being that good a vaulter.
By world-class I meant somebody who can make Oly or W.c finals or be ranked top 10-20 in the world.
Then we have at least 3 athletes/astronauts.
Yes, Ed White is correct. He was one of the 2 I had in mind. The other would be harder since he is not an American. He was a field event guy and
was an Olympic finalist. He is not a Russian or a Soviet!

[Guest]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWSSpace/money.html

Garry must not have seen this one. Canadian high jumper Ken Money, member of the '56 Oly team.

[Guest]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Sorry, I don't think of anybody after say, 1970 as an astronaut. At that point they all just became guys who went up into space. Think of it as big-A Astronauts (the pioneers) vs. little-a astronauts.

[Guest]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

>http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWSSpace/money.html

Gary must not have seen this one. Canadian high
jumper Ken Money, member of the '56 Oly team.<

If you had carefully read the material on that page carefully, as well as the page that's linked to it, you would have seen that although he was an experienced pilot and was associated with the NASA program, Money never actually flew in space. The reference to him as an astronaut eas either an error, or a stretch of the word "astronaut" beyond its usual definition.

[Per Andersen]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

The 2 I had in mind were Ed White who came close to making the U.S. team in the 400H for the '52 Olympics. The other was Ken Money who might have been a "little a astronaut" compared to Grissom, Chaffee and White. However, he holds another distinction in addition to his 5th place in the H.J. in Melbourne. He was the last top 6 finisher in an Olympic H.J. competition to use the Western Roll.

[MJD]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

>Sorry, I don't think of anybody after say, 1970
>as an astronaut. At that point they all just
>became guys who went up into space. Think of it
>as big-A Astronauts (the pioneers) vs. little-a
>astronauts.

Tell that to the families of the 2 shuttles that were lost.

[gh]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Money had an off-beat training method: he would jump with a ski boot on his lead leg

[tracknut]

Re: More trivia: Track/Astronauts

Since these are Astronauts should we consider them "out-of world" Class or "Universal"Class? lol