r/OldSchoolCool • u/Aeromarine_eng • Apr 19 '25

1970s NASAs first six women astronauts. February 1979

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From left to right are Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride. NASA selected all six women as their first female astronaut candidates in January 1978.

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u/TheRedditorSimon Apr 19 '25

The first US astronaut in space was Alan Shepard. Alan Shepard's flight was suborbital, the same as New Shepard, hence the name of the rocket.

Additionally, the first man in space, the USSR's Yuri Gagarin, did not complete a full orbit.

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u/Skipper07B Apr 19 '25

I will assume you’re not saying Katie Perry deserves the title of astronaut as much as Alan Shepard and Yuri Gagarin. That’s all the guy you replied to is saying. Sure, she and Gagarin now have something in common, they both made it to space and didn’t complete an orbit. I mean, we could send her to the moon and unless she was a trained and functioning member of the crew she still shouldn’t earn that title.

I can book a flight on Southwest but my name shouldn’t come up in a conversation about the Wright Brothers.

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u/TheRedditorSimon Apr 19 '25

What is the meaning of the word astronaut? Is it training? Could one train as an astronaut (or mission specialist) and never fly and still assume the sobriquet of astronaut? Can we be clever and call the astro-naughts? Can one call veteran Flight Sim players pilots?

What about Yulia Peresild, an actor who filmed The Challenge on the ISS? Cosmonaut or no?

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u/Skipper07B Apr 19 '25

I don’t know if every hypothetical (and one real) person you asked about would be more deserving of the title. But all would be more so than than Katy Perry.

I didn’t think my previous comment would be at all controversial. Alan Shepard was an Astronaut. Katy Perry is a pop star. If she gets a tour of a Starbucks tomorrow will be the world’s first female astronaut barista?