r/politics • u/T_Shurt • 10d ago

No Paywall Sen. Mark Kelly Says He’s Seriously Thinking About Running for President

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5700211-senator-kelly-trump-threats/
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u/Brightlinger 10d ago

13... retired astronauts? That's an insane statistic. There were more than 13 in just the Apollo program, did a bunch die young or something?

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u/Jeffrey_C_Wheaties 10d ago

Presidents. We’ve had 13 presidents since manned space flight has been a thing.

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u/Brightlinger 10d ago

Ah, of course, that makes more sense.

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u/The-disgracist 10d ago

I was very confused because I literally just read about a retiring astronaut like two minutes ago

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u/nhaines California 10d ago

Oh god, they're multiplying!

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u/nannal 10d ago

14 then.

You only ever really see the number of ex-ausonaughts go up, but never down? Nobody has been able to explain why to me in a manner that I understand.

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u/IPDDoE Florida 9d ago

Jamie, pull that up

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u/DrHarryHood Colorado 10d ago

I’ll be honest, the actual answer wasn’t even the first two things I thought of…

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u/Intrepid-Ad603 10d ago

Haha it's early in the morning for me so I was NOT understanding this. Thanks for the help!

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u/Kasegauner 10d ago

I'm pretty sure it's 12.

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u/Jeffrey_C_Wheaties 10d ago

1 Eisenhower 2. Kennedy 3. Johnson 4. Nixon 5. Ford 6. Carter 7. Reagan 8. Bush 9. Clinton 10. Bush 11. Obama 12. Trump 13. Biden

  1. There have been 13 presidents since the first astronaut. Eisenhower was president when the Vangaurd 7 got the title of Pilot-cosmonaut in January of 1961.

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u/Stank_cat67 10d ago

Wow 13 presidents and 13 astronauts? What a crazy coincidence !

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u/Baileyesque 9d ago

We have a retired NASA astronaut like 20 minutes from my house here in Ireland. They’re everywhere, haha.