11.   Because becoming an astronaut is, of course, not like slinging grease patties at your local Fatburger.

12.   Besides claiming to be an astronaut, prosecutors said Whittredge has claimed to be a Medal of Honor recipient and a CIA official, according to the affidavit.

13.   Besides Cooper, the remaining Mercury astronauts are M. Scott Carpenter, Sen. John Glenn and Walter M. Schirra Jr.

14.   A U.S. astronaut is aboard.

15.   According to Johnson, neither the wing panels, nor the radiator plumbing nor the bulky suits worn by spacewalking astronauts have been penetrated during spaceflight.

16.   After the astronauts were safely in orbit, they immediately got down to a busy schedule of activating the laboratory for continuous operation.

17.   All across the United States, the Challenger astronauts were heroes.

18.   But astronauts are also less able to fight off infections, doctors said, especially on long missions.

19.   But for all the difficulties, astronauts are confident that it will eventually be possible not just to live, but to feel at home in space.

20.   But it provides scant information because shuttle astronauts are often just beginning to adapt to weightlessness by the time they come speeding back home.