Original Description:
How to play:
The 8 Ohio astronauts pictured on the game board have made important contributions to the history of space flight. Try to identify them using the clues provided. There are 7 clues for each astronaut and the first one is always free. You can get more clues by clicking the "New Clue" button, but each new clue costs 100 points. You start the game with 4 spacecraft. Each time you click on the wrong astronaut you lose 500 points and one spacecraft. Each time you click on the correct astronaut you receive 1000 points and another spacecraft. You can accumulate up to 8 space capsules. The game ends when you have identified all 8 astronauts or you run out of spacecraft. The object is to finish with as many points as possible.
Hint: You can go to the "Biographies" section on this page while you are playing the game to look for information about the astronauts.
Neil A. Armstrong:
Neil A. Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He graduated from high school there. He attended Purdue University for two years on a Navy scholarship. Armstrong’s education was interrupted when he was called to active duty during the Korean conflict. While in Korea he flew 78 combat missions. After the war, Armstrong returned to Purdue. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1955.
After graduating from Purdue, Armstrong went to work at NASA’s Lewis Research Center as an engineer. Within a year, he transferred to the Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California. While at Edwards, Armstrong tested high-speed aircraft, including the famous X-15.
Armstrong became an astronaut in 1962. On his first space mission he served as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. On that mission he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. Armstrong also served as backup command pilot for Gemini 11.
Armstrong was chosen as spacecraft commander of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission. On July 20, 1969, he became the first human being to set foot on the moon.
Following the Apollo flight, Armstrong held several jobs with NASA. He resigned in 1971 to become a professor of engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Armstrong served as Vice Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Commission in 1986. In the early 1990s, he hosted a television documentary entitled "First Flights."
Nancy J. Currie:
Nancy J. Currie was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1958. She graduated from Troy High School in Troy, Ohio, in 1977. Currie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biological science from The Ohio State University in 1980. Currie also holds a Master of Science degree in safety engineering from the University of Southern California.
After her graduation from Ohio State, Currie served as a neuropathology research assistant at the OSU College of Medicine. In 1981, she became a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and attended Army Aviation School. Following her flight training, Currie became a helicopter flight instructor and a senior army aviator. She held several leadership roles.
Currie went to work at the Johnson Space Center in 1987 as an engineer on the flight simulator for the Shuttle Aircraft. She became an astronaut in 1991. Since then, she has held various technical jobs at NASA. Currie’s first space flight was STS-57 in 1993 aboard the shuttle Endeavor. As a mission specialist on that flight she took part in many experiments in materials and life sciences. In 1995, she again served as a mission specialist and part of an "all-Ohio" crew on STS-70 aboard the shuttle Discovery. The crew on that flight put into orbit the final satellite in NASA’s orbiting communication satellite system.
Currie, who currently holds the rank of major, is scheduled to travel into space again in 1997, serving on the crew of STS-88. That mission will carry hardware into space for the assembly of an international space station.
John H. Glenn, Jr.:
John H. Glenn, Jr. was born in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 18, 1921. At an early age, he moved with his parents to New Concord. He graduated from New Concord High School and attended Muskingum College. Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Glenn enlisted in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and became a Marine pilot in 1943. He flew 59 combat missions in the South Pacific during Word War II. When the Korean conflict began, Glenn asked for combat duty and flew 63 missions. For his total of 149 missions during the two wars he received many decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross six times.
Following the Korean conflict, Glenn attended Test Pilot School. He served as a test pilot for Naval and Marine aircraft. In 1957, he set a speed record, flying from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours and 23 minutes.
In 1959, Glenn was selected to be one of the first seven astronauts in the U.S. space program. On February 20, 1962, he became the first American to orbit the earth. He piloted the Friendship 7 spacecraft around the globe three times.
Glenn served as an advisor to the Apollo program until he resigned from the Manned Spacecraft Center in 1964. He was promoted to the rank of colonel the same year. He retired from the Marines in 1965. Following several years in private business, Glenn was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, where he has served many years.
Terence T. Henricks:
Terence T. Henricks was born in Bryan, Ohio, on July 5, 1952. He considers Woodfield, Ohio to be his home. Henricks graduated from Woodmore High School in 1970. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1974. In 1982, he received a Masters degree in public administration from Golden State University.
After graduating from the Air Force Academy, Henricks completed flight school. He then served in Iceland and England. When he returned to the U.S., he attended the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base. He remained there until being selected as an astronaut in 1985. While on duty with the Air Force, Henricks flew over 30 types of aircraft. He made 747 parachute jumps and logged over 6,000 hours of flight time.
Henricks passed his training and became an astronaut in July 1986. Since then he has held several technical positions with the Shuttle Transport System (STS) Program. In addition, he has commanded two shuttle flights and piloted two others. STS-44, aboard the shuttle Atlantis, launched in November 1991. Its primary purpose was to put a defense satellite in orbit. STS-55, the German Spacelab mission, launched in April 1993 aboard the shuttle Columbia. Eighty-nine scientific experiments were conducted during the ten-day flight. STS-70 launched in July 1995 with an "all-Ohio" crew aboard the shuttle Discovery. Henrick’s last mission in space, STS-78, came in 1996 aboard the shuttle Columbia. The mission lasted 18 days. It was sponsored by ten nations and included crewmembers from five nations.
As of 1987, Henricks was serving NASA as the Assistant for Shuttle Operations to the Chief of the Astronaut Office. He was directing crew involvement in the development and operation of the shuttle.
James Arthur Lovell, Jr.:
James Arthur Lovell, Jr. was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1928. Lovell graduated from Juneau High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin for two years before receiving a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1952.
Lovell’s military and flight career began in 1952 when he became an ensign in the Navy. While in the Navy he attended flight school and served as a flight instructor and test pilot. In 1962, he was selected as an astronaut.
Lovell’s first NASA duty was as the backup pilot for Gemini 4. He made his first space flight in 1965 on the Gemini 7 mission. That mission was the first time two manned spacecraft met and joined in space. In 1966, Lovell flew on the last space flight of the Gemini program, Gemini 12.
Lovell’s third space flight was aboard Apollo 8 in 1968. He was Command Module Pilot on man’s first flight to the moon. Launched aboard the Saturn 5 rocket, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to leave earth’s gravitational field. They traveled 223,000 miles, circled the moon 10 times and broadcast live images of the moon back to earth.
Lovell’s last space flight was as Spacecraft Commander of the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. An explosion took place on board 55 hours into the flight. The crew had to give up its original plan to walk on the moon. Lovell and his crew worked closely with the Houston ground controllers to develop a rescue plan. After circling the moon once, the crew completed the first deep space, emergency recovery in history. They returned safely to earth on April 16, 1970.
Following his heroics aboard Apollo 13, Lovell attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University. In 1971, he was named Deputy Director for Science and Applications at the Johnson Space Center. He served there until he retired from NASA in 1973.
G. David Low:
G. David Low was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 19, 1956. He graduated from Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, in 1974. Low attended Washington & Lee University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics-engineering in 1978. Low received a second Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University in 1980. He received a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University in 1983.
Low was selected to become an astronaut in 1984. He successfully completed the training in 1985. Low held many with NASA, including spacecraft communicator in the Mission Control Center during STS Missions 26, 27, 29 and 30.
Low has flown on three space flights. In 1990, he served as a mission specialist on STS-32 aboard the shuttle Columbia. On that mission Low took part in several life-science experiments. He also helped place a communications satellite in orbit. Low next served as the flight engineer aboard the shuttle Atlantis on STS-43 in 1991. On that flight the crew placed another satellite in orbit and conducted more scientific research. In 1993, Low served as payload commander for STS-57 aboard the shuttle Endeavor. On that flight he and fellow crewmate, Jeff Wisoff, walked in space for 5 hours and 50 minutes.
Low left NASA in 1996 to pursue a private career.
Robert F. Overmyer:
Robert F. Overmyer was born in Lorain, Ohio, on July 14, 1936. He graduated from Westlake High School in 1954. Overmyer earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Baldwin Wallace College in 1958. In 1964, he received a Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
Overmyer’s military career began in 1958 with the Marine Corps. During the next eleven years, he attended naval flight training, received his post-graduate degree, served in Japan and attended the Air Force Test Pilots School. In 1969, he was selected as a NASA astronaut.
During his first 13 years with NASA, Overmyer worked on developing the Skylab Program. He also served in Moscow on the Apollo-Soyuz Project. In addition, he worked on the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Program. Overmyer’s first space flight came in 1982. He piloted the space shuttle Columbia on mission STS-5. STS-5 was the first fully operational flight of the Shuttle Transport System. It was also the first mission with a four-man crew and the first to launch large satellites into higher orbit.
In 1985, Overmyer was commander of STS 51-B, the Spacelab-3 mission. On that flight the astronauts conducted a wide range of scientific experiments while in space.
In 1986, Colonel Overmyer served on the board that investigated the Challenger accident. He retired that year to pursue private business opportunities. In 1996, he was killed when a small plane he was test piloting crashed near Duluth, Minnesota.
Judith A. Resnik:
Judith A. Resnik was born in Akron, Ohio, on April 5, 1949. She graduated from Firestone High School. Resnik earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1970. Following college, Resnik worked at the RCA Corporation in their missile and service radar divisions. She also attended graduate school. In 1974, she left RCA to become a staff scientist at the neurophysiology laboratory at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. Resnik continued her schooling and earned a Doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland in 1977.
In 1978, Resnik and five other women were selected to become America’s first female astronauts. After completing the training program for shuttle mission specialists, Resnik held several roles at the Johnson Space Center. She helped design and develop shuttle equipment. In 1984, Resnik became the second American woman in space when she flew on the first flight of the space shuttle Discovery. During the mission she conducted experiments with the shuttle’s solar energy equipment and performed some biomedical research.
Resnik was chosen as a mission specialist for shuttle mission STS-51-L, aboard the shuttle Challenger. Tragically, she and six other astronauts were killed in an explosion shortly after lift-off on January 28, 1986.