Submariner In Space!
On Friday (or maybe a little later), CAPT Stephen Bowen will become the first Submariner in space when he blasts off onboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour as part of STS-126. I know he'll do us proud!
Update 0803 15 Nov: Endeavour took off with CAPT Bowen aboard as scheduled. As commenter Rubber Ducky points out, it turns out that CAPT Bowen is not the first Submariner in space; that honor goes to former astronaut Michael J. McCulley, who served on 3 submarines while enlisted before getting picked up for a commissioning program and going Navy Air. McCulley was the pilot for STS-34 in 1989.
posted by Bubblehead at 7:55 AM
20 Comments:
Cool! And he is from the Boston area too! :-)
11/12/2008 8:29 AM
From inner space to outer space, the jump doesn't seem that far :)
11/12/2008 8:58 AM
Neat! And the pilot went to my old middle school when it was a high school. That's quite fascinating.
11/12/2008 9:31 AM
I always figured bubbleheads were the logical people to man space stations.
11/12/2008 11:08 AM
All well and good -- and certainly congratulations -- but *EIGHT YEARS* since being accepted as a NASA Mission Specialist before his first flight??? Wow. Better him than me. Sheesh.
11/12/2008 11:33 AM
*EIGHT YEARS*
How long did it take Deke Slayton?
11/12/2008 4:53 PM
That's absolutely cool.
He's going from the bottom of the ocean to bouncing off the sky line into space. Talk about a life time achievement!
On a separate note: Congrats to all the USN Bubbleheads on winning the sonar case. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/scotus_navy_sonar
Thanks, J.
11/12/2008 4:59 PM
Bubblehead-
Post about the ASDS fire!! Enquiring minds want to know.
11/12/2008 6:01 PM
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ea_japan0698_11_11.asp
Chinese vs. GW in WESTPAC
11/12/2008 7:19 PM
http://op-for.com/2008/11/asds_fire.html
11/12/2008 9:27 PM
Not only a bubblehead... but he's also an alum of the MIT/WHOI Joint Program! I think I went to school with him back in the dark ages. :-)
A number of people with WHOI connections have become astronauts: small world... in deep space.
11/12/2008 10:45 PM
Absolutely wrong!
Mike McCulley was the first qualified submariner in space. He served as a nuclearweaponsman in a diesel and two nukes before going into the NESEP program.
He flew in STS-34 in 1989.
Bio is at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/mcculley.html
11/13/2008 6:39 AM
Thanks for blowing the whistle on that one Ducky.
11/13/2008 8:23 AM
He did it! Beautiful night launch!
XO.... in..... SPAAAAAAAACCCCCE............
11/14/2008 8:23 PM
Joel: how are you feeling? How was the appt?
11/15/2008 6:12 AM
I updated the article to reflect Rubber Ducky's find that CAPT Bowen is actually the 2nd submariner in space. And in answer to the last question: I'm doing fine. Got back from Seattle last night, they found that the cancer has not spread to my lymph nodes, but that I'll still be getting radiation/chemo before surgery because that gives me a better chance of becoming completely cancer-free. Thanks for asking!
11/15/2008 9:25 AM
Wife, brother, & sister-in-law were in front row of VIP seating at Banana Creek on KSC to watch the Space Turkey launch. I watched from front yard in Cocoa Beach. Spectacular night launch and visible long after the solids dropped off.
Even if you live on the Space Coast and see stuff arcing from earth regularly, it's still a thrill to watch that many Ms and Vs under control.
11/15/2008 10:27 AM
I was on the PCU VIRGINIA when he got picked up for the astronaut program... I had been wondering what happened to him. Congratulations!
11/15/2008 6:45 PM
Wow, it's a strangely small world. I'm on the Virginia now, but never met CAPT Bowen. I was here in Florida for vacation when it went up. Got an interesting shot of the launch with my camera. Bubblehead, feel free to put it in your blog if you want.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/3030307925_9ecc2625c1.jpg
11/15/2008 11:23 PM
It won't truly have success, I believe this way.
8/25/2012 10:08 PM
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