These 5 astronauts have gone to space — and then stopped in SLO County
Astronaut Victor Glover spoke during a recent visit to his alma mater, Cal Poly.
His talk and the question and answer session was inspiring.
As he showed a slide naming the active astronauts at NASA one fact struck me: There have not been that many space travelers in the 65 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarian first orbited Earth on April 1, 1961.
According to whoisinspace.com, 781 humans have flown past the 50-mile-high mark that is considered the boundary of space.
With Artemis II, 28 have been to the moon, 12 have walked on it.
And though the Artemis crew did not land on the moon, those four astronauts traveled the furthest from the Earth of anyone else.
It’s a select club.
They have to be good at flying or technical tasks — not everyone can get to be at the controls of a billion-dollar mission.
Usually they have had thousands of hours of flying, logged in a variety of aircraft before they can qualify for the program.
In addition to being technically sound, they are ambassadors for the space program.
They are the public face to explain the program to a public that does not always pay attention to science.
But with their willingness to take on the risks of space travel, they have a special place in the national dialog and have a platform to share their thoughts and experiences.
Speaking in front of crowds probably ranks low on their personal list of “frightening things I have done.”
Several astronauts have visited over the years to the nearby Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
Recently there was a demolition at the historic Space Launch Complex-6. The storied site was supposed to be the West Coast center for crewed spaceflight with the Air Force MOL spy program and later the Space Shuttle. Both programs were scrapped before launch, and the site is now being reconfigured for Space X launches.
At least five astronauts have been involved in public events in San Luis Obispo County.
May 18, 1968:
John Glenn was a Korean War pilot and one of the first group of 7 American astronauts, the Mercury 7.
Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962 in the Friendship 7 mission. He would later fly on the Space Shuttle STS-95 mission in October 1998. He is the oldest person to venture into space and the only Mercury and Space Shuttle astronaut. In between trips into space, he was a U.S. senator.
He campaigned in San Luis Obispo for presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Sr. during La Fiesta.
Oct. 10, 1970:
Walter Cunningham was grand marshal for the Harvest Festival in Arroyo Grande two years after his spaceflight.
He was the pilot for Apollo 7 in October 1968, a test flight for systems used to land on the moon and the first effective television transmission of crew activities.
Popular interest was high in the missions to the moon, with kids dressed up as astronauts in the parade. He flew combat missions in the Korean War and was a member of the third group of astronauts selected by NASA and coordinated development of the Skylab space station.
June 9, 1989:
Cal Poly graduate Robert “Hoot” Gibson made several trips to San Luis Obispo County, and while in space, was often photographed with Cal Poly memorabilia in the background while he was in orbit.
The 1969 aeronautical engineering graduate brought a Cal Poly pennant carried into space on the shuttle Atlantis as a gift to Cal Poly President Warren Baker.
The Vietnam veteran pilot had flown over 100 airplanes and five space shuttle missions.
He flew in Challenger, Columbia, Atlantis (twice) and Endeavour. He would also be on the commission that investigated the Challenger explosion that killed the crew of seven.
April 21, 2001:
Buzz Aldrin was second man to walk on the moon and piloted the lunar module that landed.
He was a combat pilot in the Korean War and one of the third group of astronauts selected and who flew with the Gemini and Apollo programs.
He visited the Endeavour academies at the high schools in Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande. Like Victor Glover he was awed by the idea that his mission partners were looking back at the home planet of every human, Earth, in the vastness of space. He anticipated the era of space tourism and was critical of conspiracy theorists who didn’t credit the science, effort and courage that went into each mission.
June 16, 2026:
Victor Glover has completed four space walks while on missions at the International Space Station.
He has made several visits to Cal Poly where he graduated from the engineering program in 1999. His wife is also an alumnus and three of their daughters are also Mustangs.
He was a US. Navy test and combat pilot before joining NASA. He has more than 3,500 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft.
Artemis II was the first mission around the Moon since the Apollo landings. The craft he piloted carried the 4-person crew farther from the earth than any other humans.
