Problem: Walter Marty "Wally" Schirra Jr. (March 12, 1923 - May 3, 2007), (CAPT, USN), was an American naval aviator and astronaut. He was one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, the first effort by the United States to put humans in space. On October 3, 1962, he flew a six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission becoming the fifth American, and ninth human, to travel to space. In the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft in December 1965.

After graduating from the Naval Academy, Schirra was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy in 1945. Schirra served during the final months of World War II aboard the large cruiser USS Alaska. Following the Japanese surrender, Schirra returned to America, where the USS Alaska was decommissioned. Schirra was stationed in Tsingtao, where he was assigned to the USS Estes. Following his return from China, Schirra began training as a Naval Aviator at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.  After he completed training, Schirra received his wings in 1948 and joined Fighter Squadron 71 (VF-71) at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. In VF-71, Schirra flew the F8F Bearcat. After several years flying the F8F Schirra attended jet transition training with the F-80 Shooting Star in preparation for his squadron's transition to the jet-powered F9F Panther. Schirra was deployed to the Mediterranean aboard the USS Midway at the outbreak of the Korean War, and volunteered for an exchange program with the U.S. Air Force to get combat experience. Schirra was selected for the exchange, and trained to fly on the F-84 Thunderjet.  Schirra was initially deployed with the 154th Fighter-Bomber Squadron to Itazuke Air Force Base in Japan, from where he flew missions into South Korea. As U.S. troops pushed north, the squadron was reassigned to a base in Daegu. In the 8 month deployment, Schirra flew 90 combat missions and downed two MiG-15s.  After completing his tour in Korea, Schirra became a test pilot at Naval Ordnance Test Station China Lake, California (NOTS). At China lake, he tested various weapons systems, including becoming the first pilot to fly with and fire the Sidewinder missile. Schiraa was assigned to Miramar Naval Air Station to test the newest Navy jet fighter, the F7U Cutlass. Schirra was subsequently assigned to NAS Moffett to begin transition training to the Cutlass, and subsequently the F3H Demon. After a deployment to Asia aboard the USS Lexington and aviation safety training at the University of Southern California, Schirra was accepted to the United States Naval Test Pilot School in 1958.  Schirra was a member of class 20 at the Naval Test Pilot School, along with future fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and Pete Conrad, where he learned to fly numerous aircraft, including the F4D Skyray, the F11F Tiger, and the F8U Crusader. After graduation, Schirra was assigned as a test pilot at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Schirra learned to fly the F4H Phantom to determine if it could become a carrier-based aircraft.

Was there any other future astronauts that was members with them?

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Problem: Alaska Natives are indigenous peoples of Alaska, United States: Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures. They are often defined by their language groups. Many Alaska Natives are enrolled in federally recognized Alaska Native tribal entities, who in turn belong to 13 Alaska Native Regional Corporations, who administer land and financial claims. Ancestors of the Alaska Natives are known to have migrated into the area thousands of years ago, in at least two different waves.

Arriving from Siberia by ship in the mid-eighteenth century, Russians began to trade with Alaska Natives. New settlements around trading posts were started by Russians, including Russian Orthodox missionaries. These were the first to translate Christian scripture into Native languages. British and American traders generally did not reach the area until the nineteenth century, and in some cases missionaries were not active until the twentieth century. In the 21st century, the numerous congregations of Russian Orthodox Christians in Alaska are generally composed mostly of Alaska Natives.  Rather than hunting the marine life, the Russians forced the Aleuts to do the work for them. As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased and they forced the Aleuts into slavery. Catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed good will toward the Aleut and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. On some islands and parts of the Alaska Peninsula, groups of traders had been capable of relatively peaceful coexistence with the local inhabitants. Other groups could not manage the tensions. Russians took hostages, families were split up, and individuals were forced to leave their villages and settle elsewhere. The growing competition between the trading companies, merging into fewer, larger and more powerful corporations, created conflicts that aggravated the relations with the indigenous populations. Over the years, the situation became catastrophic for the natives.  As the animal populations declined, the Aleuts, already too dependent on the new barter economy created by the Russian fur trade, were increasingly coerced into taking greater risks in the dangerous waters of the North Pacific to hunt for more otter. As the Shelikhov-Golikov Company and later Russian-American Company developed as a monopoly, it used skirmishes and systematic violence as a tool of colonial exploitation of the indigenous people. When the Aleut revolted and won some victories, the Russians retaliated, killing many and destroying their boats and hunting gear, leaving them no means of survival.  The most devastating effects were from disease: during the first two generations (1741/1759-1781/1799 AD) of Russian contact, 80 percent of the Aleut population died from Eurasian infectious diseases. These were then endemic among the Europeans, but the Aleut had no immunity against the new diseases.

What else was significant during the Russian colonial period?

Answer with quotes:
Catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed good will toward the Aleut