Snapshot: Jerry Linenger flew on the Space Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis. Then he began training (using Russian language) at the Cosmonaut Training Center, in preparation for a mission aboard the Russian Space Station Mir. While living aboard Mir, Linenger and his two Russian crewmembers faced the most severe fire ever aboard an orbiting spacecraft. In completing the nearly five month mission, he logged some 50 million miles (equivalent to over 110 roundtrips to the Moon), travelling at an average speed of 18,000 mph. Author of two books: Off The Planet: Surviving Five Perilous Months Aboard The Space Station (1999) and Letters from MIR: An Astronaut’s Letters to His Son (2002).
Organization: Deeply involved in Circle of Blue, a non-profit affiliate of the Pacific Institute, a think-tank based in Oakland, California. Video interview at Davos.
Website: See Jerry’s Wikipedia entry and Circle of Blue website.
Volans in a word: “Transformative”.