He’s a real-life astronaut. Jerry Linenger talks to our Lori about being a NASA astronaut, his views of Earth from space, and his participation in National Geographic Channel’s “One Strange Rock” (with host Will Smith).
Video Content: Jerry Linenger (2018)
SIDEWALKS host Lori Rosales talks to Jerry Linenger about training as a NASA astronaut and his appearance in the National Geographic Channel’s “One Strange Rock.” Linenger is one of eight storyteller astronauts featured in “One Strange Rock,” executive produced by Darren Aronofsky’s ProtozoaPictures and Jane Root’s Nutopia.
Mini-Biography:
Born January 16, 1955, and raised in East Detroit, Michigan, Jerry Linenger is a retired Captain in the United States Navy Medical Corps and a former NASA astronaut, who flew on the Space Shuttle and Space Station Mir. In August 1992, he joined astronaut selection Group XIV at the Johnson Space Center. He flew on STS-64 (September 9-20, 1994) aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and later aboard U.S. Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-81 and STS-84). Following his first mission, he began training at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. He was the first American ever to undock from a space station in a Russian Soyuz capsule and the first to do a spacewalk in a Russian spacesuit. Linenger was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation; Navy Unit Commendation; National Defense Service Medal; Navy Battle Efficiency Award; Navy Commendation Medal with gold star; a Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and two NASA Space Flight Medals, including, in 2008, the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred by NASA. Linenger is a founding board member of the global freshwater think tank Circle of Blue and a member of the advisory board at the sustainability leader, Volans. As an author, he penned “Off the Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard the Space Station MIR” and “Letters from Mir: An Astronauts Letters to His Son.” Linenger has collaborated with National Geographic Explorer on the documentary “The Angel Effect.” A father of four, Linenger retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in January 1998, and presently lives with his family in Northern Michigan.
Interview Credits:
Recorded: March 15, 2018
Host / Producer: Lori Rosales
Editor: Richard R. Lee
Special Thanks To: National Geographic, Nutopia, Protozoa Pictures, NASA.gov