Civil Air Patrol In Space: Connecting Past And Future Astronauts

Civil Air Patrol (CAP) is showcasing their connection to space and time, through astronauts from the past to the future, beginning with the Mercury 7 mission in 1963 to future astronauts.

The original astronauts from the Mercury 7 mission were awarded honorary CAP membership in recognition of “their courageous contribution to the scientific exploration of space”, and that practice became a regular occurrence with successive crews of the Gemini 7 in 1955, Apollo 8 mission in 1968.

Since that time, former/current CAP members have traveled to space and held jobs in the industry... 

Col Frank Borman who was crew member of both the Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 missions; mission specialist Mike Lounge on the Space Shuttle (SS) Discovery; Eric Boe a pilot of the SS Endeavor, also worked as NASA director of operations and deputy chief of the astronaut office; Dr Sian Proctor, a geology professor and geoscientist who recently piloted the SpaceX shuttle for Inspiration 4 mission in 2021. 

On a future note, a former and current CAP cadet appear to be on track for space. 

Navy Cdr Jack Hathaway, a F/A-18 pilot with over 2,500 hours in 30 types of aircraft is expected to report for training in January 2023. Cadet Lt Col Sanmathi Priya Abiram Lakshmi Devi, a current member of CAP is about to graduate high school and head off to college for aerospace engineering. She has participated in various STEM activities in CAP and led a StellarXplorers space systems design team for the Air Force Agility Prime eVTOL competition.

FMI: https://gocivilairpatrol.com, https://stellarxplorers.org