A new spaced out league table
U.S. News & World Report has produced a ranking of the colleges with the most astronaut alumni:
The women and men in space all got their start in Earth-bound colleges and universities—many by pursuing degrees in aerospace engineering. This month marked 47 years since the first moon landing. To celebrate, U.S. News & World Report looked at which colleges and universities have produced the most astronauts, in terms of bachelor’s and graduate degrees.
The top 12 are:
- United States Naval Academy: 52 astronaut alumni
- United States Air Force Academy: 36 astronaut alumni
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 34 astronaut alumni
- Naval Postgraduate School: 32 astronaut alumni
- Stanford University: 21 astronaut alumni
- Purdue University-West Lafayette: 20 astronaut alumni
- United States Military Academy: 18 astronaut alumni
- University of Colorado-Boulder: 14 astronaut alumni
- Georgia Institute of Technology: 14 astronaut alumni
- University of Texas at Austin: 12 astronaut alumni
- University of Washington: 12 astronaut alumni
- Air Force Institute of Technology: 12 astronaut alumni
Britons in space
It seemed only sensible to do the equivalent for the UK. Wikipedia advises that seven astronauts have UK origins or dual nationality and five of these studied at UK higher education institutions.
If we award a point for each UK university degree held by those five astronauts then we get this UK league table:
1 Cambridge (3)
2= Birkbeck (1)
2= Edinburgh (1)
2= Leeds (1)
2= Portsmouth (1)
2= Sandhurst (1)
2= Sheffield (1)
Cambridge first again then.
Fun! Does this include ESA & other astronauts that went to UK or US universities?
I think the US News list is all astronauts who studied at US universities. The UK list is only Brits who studied at UK universities (hence small numbers!)