National Pride

This entry is not very informative, but I couldn't resist :)

As you know, NASA is an American organization. However, space development requires global cooperation, and there are many international people who are involved in NASA projects. They include international astronauts and astronaut candidates. Let us look at some pictures of those bright people. As you see, everybody has his/her national flag on shoulder -- astronauts are a national pride, of course!

Julie Payette (CSA - Canada)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Leopold Eyharts (ESA - France)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Paolo A. Nespoli (ESA - Italy)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Koichi Wakata (JAXA - Japan)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Christer Fugelsang (ESA - Sweden)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Serkan Anilir (??? - Turkey?)

[Image Credit: Serkan Anilir?]

Robert J. Hieb (NASA - USA)

[Image Credit: NASA]

Wait, what happened to "the first Turkish NASA astronaut candidate"??

(For a more serious analysis, see this entry).