Curated playlist
Recipients of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
- Jim LovellJim Lovell flew to the Moon twice and never set foot on it. His second trip, Apollo 13, nearly ended in disaster.
- Roger B. ChaffeeRoger Chaffee passed his Navy pilot's eye exam only because a doctor let him retake it the next morning.
- Ed White (astronaut)Ed White floated out of his capsule in 1965 and did not want to come back. He was the first American to walk in space.
- Gus GrissomDoctors nearly cut Gus Grissom from astronaut selection because he had hay fever.
- Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
- Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong's astronaut application came about a week late, until a colleague slipped it into the pile.
- John Young (astronaut)John Young walked on the Moon and later commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. He is the only person to do both.
- Frank BormanA stranger's telegram told Apollo 8's Frank Borman, "You saved 1968." He commanded the first crew to orbit the Moon.
- Christa McAuliffeChrista McAuliffe had a short, blunt answer when a talk-show host asked her about her coming mission. Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, she said: "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get…
- Thomas P. StaffordApollo 10's lunar module spun out of control after Thomas Stafford flew it within nine miles of the Moon.
- Kalpana ChawlaKalpana Chawla was born in 1962 in Karnal, a city in Haryana, India, and in 1997 she was circling the Earth aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. She became an astronaut and aerospace engineer, and she was the first woman of Indian origin to fly…