QUESTIONS:
1. President Bush was widely praised for calming the nation after the Columbia space shuttle tragedy. Two Presidents have had to perform this unpleasant task before. Can you name them?
2. How many astronauts have gone on to be elected to the U.S. Senate?
3. How many astronauts have been elected to the U.S. House?
4. How many U.S. senators have gone into space as astronauts while still in office?
5. How many sitting U.S. House members have gone into space as astronauts while still in office?
ANSWERS:
1. Lyndon B. Johnson after the Apollo I disaster in 1967 and Ronald Reagan following the Challenger tragedy of 1986.
2. Two: Democrat John Glenn of Ohio, who served from 1974-98, and Republican Harrison Schmidt of New Mexico (1976-82).
3. One: Republican Jack Swigert, who was elected from Colorado in 1982 but died before taking the oath of office in January 1983.
4. Two: John Glenn in 1998 and then-Sen. Jake Garn (R.-Utah) in 1985.
5. One: Democratic Rep. Bill Nelson of Florida, who rode the space shuttle in 1986 (and is today a U.S. senator).
