Was he an astronaut or not? Please explain why or why not.
2007-02-23 04:37:16 · 6 answers · asked by ragazza.chica.kella 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
He wasn't an astronaut, because he did not fly into space. If he did, he would be. He didn't.
What he was, was a test pilot and one of the best. I read his autobiography a few years ago. Test pilots do some of the toughest stuff, taking newly-designed planes that we do not know are useless or not, and flying them in ever more dangerous ways and documenting everything.
He is well known for being the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. He also tells in his book the story of how he once shot down a German jet while flying a much older prop plane himself.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Chuck+Yeager&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAiL71SPwyvziYWnSsCC7oIoazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAi3nSFpeOvIIW8M3PPw1z0wazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Chuck+Yeager
He's one of the greats, and an inspiration to the guys who were astronauts, but he was not one himself.
For anyone interested in test pilots, there is another book by a real astronaut, Michael Collins who went to the moon but did not land, and a lot of it is about his test pilot days.
http://www.amazon.com/Carrying-Fire-Astronauts-Michael-Collins/dp/081541028X/sr=1-6/qid=1172252794/ref=sr_1_6/105-3029085-3185211?ie=UTF8&s=books
2007-02-23 04:48:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not an astronaut, due to lack of college degree, according to his autobiography, "Yeager" and Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff".
"Chuck Yeager was the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound. A combat pilot in World War II, Yeager was shot down over France in 1943, but managed to escape without being captured. After the war he was put in charge of pilot training for experimental aircraft, and on October 14, 1947 became the first person to break the sound barrier, flying a rocket powered Bell X-1 jet. He helped train the first U.S. astronauts and, as if there were no end to his studliness, flew combat missions over Vietnam in the 1960s. In the 1980s Yeager became a celebrity, thanks in large part to the 1984 film made from Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff, an account of the early U.S. space program."
http://www.answers.com/topic/chuck-yeager
2007-02-23 04:53:24 · answer #2 · answered by S. B. 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
General Chuck Yeager was a test pilot who was also the first man to:
1) Shoot down a jet fighter while flying a propeller plane
2) Break the sound barrier
He crashed multiple planes during his career in testing, and was shot down once in WWII. However, he was not an astronaut
2007-02-23 04:46:56 · answer #3 · answered by promethius9594 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Is Chuck Yeager still alive ?
2016-05-24 02:37:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No! He was was a test pilot back in the 1950's He was the first man to break the sound barrier.
Love Bruce
2007-02-23 04:46:59 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not an astronaut; just a test pilot. You'll have to ask him why he never applied.
2007-02-23 04:42:25 · answer #6 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋