[FPSPACE] Russians dispute 500th Earth space traveler claim

[William Harwood]

Robert et al:

I believe you are correct. If one includes sub-orbital 100-km and up  
flights by Walker and the SpaceShipOne guys, 502 unique individuals  
have made it into "space" through STS-127. The 500th person to reach  
orbit would be one of the 128 crew. But if 128 is delayed past the  
Soyuz, and if you only count orbital flights, the going-in number  
would be 499. So in that case, Suraev or LaLiberte would be No. 500.  
Figuring out which one it would be is left as an exercise for the  
reader.

Bill

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William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst		
Kennedy Space Center, FL	

321-639-9440 - KSC
harwoodb at cbsnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
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On Aug 6, 2009, at 6:19 PM, Robert Pearlman wrote:

> Roscosmos is referring to the 500th person in orbit, not space.
>
> They are not counting X-15 pilot Joseph Walker's and SpaceShipOne  
> pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie's suborbital flights above 62  
> miles (100 kilometers).
>
> As it stands now, the 500th person in orbit will be on STS-128 and  
> will either be Kevin Ford, Jose Hernandez or Nicole Stott.  (Ford  
> will be on the flight deck for launch, while Hernandez and Stott are  
> on the middeck).
>
> -- 
> Robert Pearlman, Editor
> collectSPACE - The Source for Space History & Artifacts
> http://www.collectspace.com/
> Twitter: @robertpearlman | @collectSPACE
>
> On Aug 6, 2009, at 4:51 PM, James Oberg wrote:
>
>> Apparently there's a Russian claim, citing RKA,
>> that if the next shuttle mission is delayed, Surayev on
>> the next Soyuz will be the 500th world space traveler.
>>
>> I thought we'd already had the roadmark.
>>
>> What did we count, that the Russians don't?
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> Россия претендует на еще один  
>> "космический рекорд"
>> http://www.personalmoney.ru/pnwsinf.asp?id=1244675
>>
>
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