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William B. Lenoir

American astronaut (1939–2010)

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Born
March 14, 1939
Died
August 26, 2010
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1939

About William B. Lenoir

William Benjamin Lenoir was an American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut. Lenoir flew as a mission specialist on STS-5 (November 11–16, 1982), the first Space Shuttle flight to deploy commercial satellites, and logged over 122 hours in space. Lenoir and Allen were to perform a spacewalk, the first of the Shuttle program, to test newly developed space suits. This was the first operational flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and became known as the "We Deliver" mission.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when William B. Lenoir was born

William B. Lenoir was born in 1939. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1939

  • #1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
  • Top movieGone with the Wind
  • Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
  • Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
  • Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
  • Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
  • Notable inventionNylon stockings
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in William B. Lenoir's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19392026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,200$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population130.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Oxford Reference. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.