# Stupid Astronaut Tricks! (Odd space traveler accomplishments) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 19, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595 "2009-04-19T04:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/1 "2009-04-19T04:13:36Z")
Okay, like it says in the title—I thought it’d be fun to start a list of odd or memorable things Astronauts (as well as Cosmo-, Spatio-, and Taiko- nauts) have accomplished, especially _after_ traveling in space. So far, I have ones who… •Flew combat missions…_after_ becoming [an astronaut](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._White#Test_pilot_program). •[Died—and were buried—on Mt. Everest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Gordon_Henize). •Worked as a pilot for Southwest Airlines—_after_ retiring from [NASA and the Navy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Gibson) •…and [Richard Garriot, aka Lord British](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Garriott). Who’s father was also an astronaut, and returned to Earth with _another_ second-generation cosmonaut. Any other suggestions? (I can think of one or two, myself. Especially one of em. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/2 "2009-04-19T21:50:03Z")
Well, I know one who co-authored two articles with …me. But that’s arguably not something for him to brag about. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/3 "2009-04-19T22:03:27Z")
Borman now owns an auto dealership. (Been going to their service department for a decade, and they’ve only screwed me once. Pretty good record, for this part of the country.) Which one was it, who became a Bible-thumper, and started searching for Noah’s Ark? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/4 "2009-04-19T22:08:55Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Which one was it, who became a Bible-thumper, and started searching for Noah’s Ark? James Irwin > **[James Irwin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Irwin)** > > James Benson Irwin (March 17, 1930 – August 8, 1991) was an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot. He served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. He was the eighth person to walk on the Moon. > Irwin was born March 17, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, of Scottish, German (maternal side) and Irish descent, to parents James William Irwin (1896–1978), a U.S. Army World War I veteran, and Elsa Mathilda Irwin (née ... ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/5 "2009-04-19T22:17:07Z")
One odd accomplishment by Valentina Tereshkova, marrying another cosmonaut and giving birth to the first person to have both a mother and father who had traveled to space: > **[Valentina Tereshkova](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova)** > > Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova\[a\]\[b\] (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, politician, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission and is the last surviving Vostok programme cosmonaut. Twenty-six years old at the time of her spaceflight, she remains the youngest woman to have flown in space ... > [@](#): > > She would marry Andrian Nikolayev (1929–2004), the only bachelor cosmonaut to have flown. Nikolayev and Tereshkova married on 3 November 1963 at the Moscow Wedding Palace. Khrushchev himself presided at the wedding party, together with top government and space program leaders. > > She gave birth to their daughter Elena Andrianovna (who is now a doctor) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/6 "2009-04-20T02:37:11Z")
Don’t know who it was, but there IS a story that someone did not like the view downstairs on the shuttle, so they did the reentry upstairs on the flight deck, standing up.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/7 "2009-04-20T06:42:45Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > Don’t know who it was, but there IS a story that someone did not like the view downstairs on the shuttle, so they did the reentry upstairs on the flight deck, standing up.:eek: That would have been [Story Musgrave](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_Musgrave#Spaceflights) on STS-80, an astronaut that makes other astronauts look like slackers. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/8 "2009-04-20T07:11:55Z")
Holy crap, Story Musgrave is the real-life Buckaroo Banzai! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/9 "2009-04-20T14:23:47Z")
How about Lisa Nowak and her diapers? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-astronaut-tricks-odd-space-traveler-accomplishments/493595/10 "2009-04-21T07:04:13Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > How about Lisa Nowak and her diapers? See? I _knew_ we could get at least a few entries in before she would come up. 😃 She is not, however, on the lineup of the [all-astronaut rock band “Max Q.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Q_(Astronaut_band)) (I checked, they’re not on iTunes)