I met an astronaut at the store!

[Kyle]

Not sure if this is in the right section.

My dad worked at MacDill AFB last year (which is also fittingly a backup site for the Shuttle) down in Tampa. So his boss was Astronaut William Shepherd (STS-27, STS-41, STS-52, Expedition 1 ISS CDR),

Well we were at the Army exchange and getting our groceries, and look at who was in front of us, an Astronaut. He's an average joe IMO, pretty nice guy with a nice military background and who just so happened to have flown In the shuttle a few times and commanded the first ISS expedition. I didn't want to get his autograph, rofl I think he gets enough of that!

 

[yagni01]

Not sure if this is in the right section.

My dad worked at MacDill AFB last year (which is also fittingly a backup site for the Shuttle) down in Tampa. So his boss was Astronaut William Shepherd (STS-27, STS-41, STS-52, Expedition 1 ISS CDR),

Well we were at the Army exchange and getting our groceries, and look at who was in front of us, an Astronaut. He's an average joe IMO, pretty nice guy with a nice military background and who just so happened to have flown In the shuttle a few times and commanded the first ISS expedition. I didn't want to get his autograph, rofl I think he gets enough of that!

I guess they have to eat, too Nice restraint with the autograph; I think I would have at least had to say 'howdy'.

 

[ar81]

People who are turned into a legend by the media, are average Joes.
Being an astronaut is to have an average job, low wage compared to the risk, government employee.

Being an astronaut is just to have another job. I have met people who you normally would see on TV, and they are people with jobs, trying to make a living.

Indeed I think that if you try not to ask for an autograph, but to share Orbiter, he might become your friend.

 

[Moonwalker]

Being an astronaut today still is something what a seaman like Columbus or a pilot like Lindbergh was in past days. This might change in wide future, when almost anybody can become a passenger rather than an astronaut/scientist, by paying just a ticket.

But even being an astronaut these days has changed already. I think nobody is able to name all the hundreads of astronauts who took the Shuttle until today, well, without using Google and Wikipedia of course. But naming all Apollo astronauts is not a big deal at all

People who are turned into a legend by the media, are average Joes.

That's true. I met a few German actors in my life. It's nothing special at all. I visited one at home (Helge Schneider, which was boring after I had seen the home and a few famous requisites). And I had the opportunity to watch a quite famous one (Götz George) on a film set for two days ("Schimanski", well that's all for German insiders ). The film set and the work of the crew was much more interesting. But even to meet 007 - Pierce Brosnan in Germany in the mid 90s on the première of Goldeneye was not what I thought would be. It's actually nothing more like watching it on TV.

But one thing for sure would be different to me: to meet one of the Apollo guys. I would have so many questions in my mind... But this already would be quite different in case I would meet an ISS or Shuttle guy. No questions at all

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Wow! That's way cool!

I've never met an Astronaut in real-life before, but I would like to - especially an Astronaut as legendary as Bill "Shep" Shepherd!

If I had been you, I'm afraid I would have gone up to Shepherd, and started asking him technical questions about the Shuttle & ISS!

 

[mjessick]

Just ordinary Joes... of the 99.96th percentile

5300 Canadians applied recently, 2 were chosen.

 

[baluba]

Hi
I met Michael Lopez Alegria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lopez-Alegria) 8 years ago in Madrid, Spain, while he was explaining his last mission (STS-92) and all about ISS at Spanish Air Force HQ, I could shake hands and talk only a few seconds, but that was amazing for me! an astronaut!
Unfortunatly there ware so many people around him that it was very difficult to enjoy the moment.

 

[dougkeenan]

There's a story that goes something like, astronauts are asked a final question during the acceptance process, "What is it you do best?" Shepherd (former Navy Seal) replied, "Kill with a knife."

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

There's a story that goes something like, astronauts are asked a final question during the acceptance process, "What is it you do best?" Shepherd (former Navy Seal) replied, "Kill with a knife."

HA!

I wonder why NASA thought that might be useful in space! :lol:

Here's a good article on Shepherd:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/william_shepherd.html

I have also read about some of Shepherd's antics in a book called "Riding Rockets" by former Astronaut Mike Mullane (who flew in space with Shepherd on STS-27).
Shepherd sounds like a really funny guy!