Purdue University has produced 22 astronauts, including both the first and last men to set foot on the moon. These incredibly brave people are among the select few that have been able to say, "You know what, screw this planet. I'm leaving for awhile." After hearing about David Wolf's sphincter-tightening exploits while on Mir I have no desire to venture into any situation that can remotely involve the words "explosive decompression".

This week on Monday the Purdue astronaut family lost one of those 22 space-farers who looked at the danger of venturing into a place that has no atmosphere or protection from cosmic radiation and laughed. Janice Voss, 55, passed away from breast cancer this week in Scottsdale Arizona. Voss was one of only six women who have been into space five different times, serving on STS-57, 63, 83, 94, and 99.

Seriously, she laughed at danger:

Like a good science fiction story, Voss's missions have not been without their element of danger. On her third flight, ground operators detected voltage irregularities in one of the Space Shuttle's three electricity-generating fuel cells. Fearing an explosion, they cut the mission to a "minimum duration flight," descending after five days instead of the planned 16. Was Voss worried? "Actually, I was on my sleep rotation when the problem was discovered," she says, "By the time I woke up the decision to move to minimum duration flight had been made." While initially disappointed, the crew and the experiments flew again for a full 16 days a few months later, resulting in total space time permitting more science than would have been possible in the original mission.

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Tomorrow is Senior Day in West Lafayette, and that means we say goodbye to a senior class that hopefully has three games left in them. They can clinch a third remaining game as long as we beat Our Most Hated Rival in the Hawkeyes. Almost none of these players know what it is like to play in the postseason. With it being their final game at Ross-Ade Stadium, here is a quick look at our departing seniors:

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Purdue has some damn fine mustaches. Joe Tiller took the Big Ten by storm with his. Danny Hope currently rocks a bitchin' ‘stache. Ned Flanders was originally a pharmacist, so I can only assume he went to Purdue as well. Big Ten creator James H. Smart may have had the greatest mustache of all time. It is only natural that Purdue takes the lead for Movember, a month where men grow mustaches in order to raise awareness for men's health and specifically cancers that affect men.

This is something that's very important to me. I generally take the Ronny James Dio attitude toward cancer (i.e.: F*** Cancer!). I do this mostly because my mother is a 23 year survivor of cancer. In January of 1988 she was diagnosed with malignant melanoma because of a bad mole on the calf of her leg. One major surgery that took a fist-sized shunk out of her leg, her lymph nodes, and four chemotherapy treatments later she made it through, but doctors said that had she waited even a few more months there is a good chance that she would have been gone by Christmas.

Naturally, I have my mother's red hair and pasty white hide, complete with hundreds of moles that I need to watch every year. When I am int he sun I tend to either get no color because I have to wear SPF: Lead or I burn to a crisp. Sure, I could have all the moles removed, but it would be a process that would take years and leave me looking like swiss cheese. Needless to say, cancer is a concern of mine.

A few months ago a group of Purdue alums contacted me about Movember Team Uno asking me to use this site and its vast audience to get on board. Here is what cancer survivor and founder Chris Skaggs had to say about team Uno:

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Profiles in Badassery is going on the road this week. As mentioned, I am roadtripping it out to Penn State for hopefully a Boilermaker victory tomorrow. If not, at least I can bring back some fresh Yuengling and add another stadium to my list. As always, there will be another road trip diary as I have done in the past for Michigan State, Indiana, and Illinois. It has become a fun tradition at this point, especially when we manage to pass the Boilermaker Special on the road.

Since I will be a guest in Penn State's house, I wanted to honor one of there own in this column that had Purdue ties. Harry Allison Estep was a U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania that served for six years in the late 1920's and early 1930's. He was also a Boilermaker legislative badass during one of the work financial eras in this country's history. He might not need a wetsuit , but some of the legislation he helped enact like the TVA meant wetsuits were needed later. 

Estep's background

Estep was originally from Pittsburgh. Born in 1884, he would alter move to Indiana where he completed his secondary schooling in Marion. He completed his undergraduate work at Purdue well before the First World War. After graduating from Purdue he would return to Pittsburgh where he finished law school at the University of Pittsburgh in 1913. He was admitted to the bar the next year and commenced his law practice in Pittsburgh.

Time In Congress

Estep's law practice wasn't enough for him, as by 1917 he was serving as the district attorney for Allegheny County, PA. Estep served in this job, likely helping out rival Penn State grads, for the next ten years until he chose to run for Congress.

He ran for Congress starting in 1926. He was elected as a Republican to the 70^th Congress, beginning his term on March 4, 1926. He would serve as the Representative for Pennsylvania's 35^th District for the next six years before losing a bid for re-election in 1932. It is likely that the Great Depression and backlash against the current Congress played a strong role in him losing his reelection bid. After returning to Pittsburgh he would quietly serve in his law practice until his retirement in 1964. Just four years later he passed away at the age of 84.

So there isn't a ton of information out there about Estep, but I wanted to give the gentleman from Pennsylvania his due. He is one of just three Boilermaker alumni to serve in Congress, joining Birch Bayh and Joe Barton.

With no game this week (and thus no tailgating post from John and Keith) I figured it was a good time to do a reader submission for the usual Profile in Badassery. Fred Bechtold contacted me a few weeks ago with a nomination for Froncie Gutman, a former Purdue quarterback and current ophthalmologist in the city of Cleveland. Cleveland can always use good news in the world of sports (even though I laugh at the idea of a sad little 63 year World Series drought since I am a Cubs fan). Judging by the way their fans acted on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium they now own the City of Indianapolis, so I might as well give Cleveland its due.

Time at Purdue

When you think of the Cradle of Quarterbacks Froncie Gutman doesn't exactly come to the forefront. Usually is Brees, Griese, Orton, Phipps, Herrmann, etc. With as extensive of knowledge of Purdue football as I have, I admit I had no idea who Froncie Gutman was before I started writing this. Thank goodness the Big Ten was kind enough to provide me with a media guide at Media days back in July.

I had to look it up, but Gutman was a quarterback at Purdue for three seasons from 1952-54. This wasn't a golden era of Purdue football, but the Boilers went 11-13-3 in his three years. His best season came in 1954 when he led Purdue to a 5-3-1 record. One of those victories was a 27-14 over Notre Dame in South Bend. The Fighting Irish went on to finish 9-1 that season. They were the preseason #1 team for the second straight year, but Purdue's upset denied them the National Championship and gave it instead to Ohio State and UCLA, who share the title.  

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I am a child of the Top Gun era. The legendary film, released on May 16, 1986, came out when I was six years old and was an 80's classic. Naturally, as a 6-year-old boy with a love of Transformers and such, I was fascinated by the jets. It was the middle of the Cold War and I lived less than 20 miles from an active Air Force base with one of the Presidential backup planes there. My dad didn't sugarcoat that Grissom AFB was a primary target if it all went downhill, so it was nice to know that Maverick and F-14 Tomcats were protecting us even though Grissom was the home of a refueling wing and A-10's.

Still, Top gun was a film that made fighter pilots out to be the true badasses. Nobody was as cool as a fighter pilot. When the infamous video game was released on the NES platform I had to have it. I was even skilled enough to be one of the four known people to successfully land on the aircraft carrier at the end of a mission.

Even though I never joined the military, there is still a certain aura about fighter pilots that stands out to this day. A close friend of mine from high school is currently in test pilot's school and he said of his first ride in a fighter jet that it was terrifying, but he would totally do it again. Fighter pilots take a rare mix of talent, reflexes and sheer balls that I admit I lack. That's why when I was forwarded this story in the Washington Post about a fighter pilot from readers Kristin Miller and Pete Jacobson I had little doubt that it was about a Boilermaker.

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One of the worst diseases affecting the world right now is the AIDS epidemic, specifically in Africa. Over 60% of the world's population with AIDS lives in Africa, and some areas in the southern part of the continent have populations where over 15% of people have HIV. It is a terrible scourge, especially in parts of the world where they lack the resources or the medications to fight the disease. Over 34 million people have HIV and more than 25 million people have died.

So what can be done about it? One Purdue badass is working on the answer. Professor Arun K. Ghosh was recently honored by the National Institutes of Health for his work in fighting drug-resistant strains of HIV. From the Purdue release on his award:

Arun K. Ghosh, the Ian P. Rothwell Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry in the colleges of Science and Pharmacy, received a Method to Extend Research in Time - or MERIT - award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The award can provide an extended grant cycle of up to 10 years and is intended to lessen the burden of grant application submission for researchers with a history of talent and success.

"The MERIT award is given to scientists whose productivity has been superior and who are expected to deliver creative, innovative research that will have an exceptional impact on the field," said Richard O. Buckius, Purdue's vice president for research. "It gives researchers the freedom to explore avenues that may be perceived as risky, in terms of being a sure success, but that could offer tremendous rewards in terms of people's health and the advancement of science. The award is a testament to the hard work of Professor Ghosh and the promise of his research into treatments for HIV and AIDS."

Ghosh created a molecule that in 2006 became the first approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat drug-resistant HIV. The drug molecule, known as Darunavir, is now approved in 80 countries and is used as a frontline therapy for HIV and AIDS. Ghosh continues to improve upon his original success and designs even more powerful molecules in an effort to improve treatments and reduce side effects.

I enjoy honoring Purdue faculty who work to fight some of the world's largest problems by featuring them in these Profiles in Badassery. I am a firm believer that God gives each person specific talents not only for our own success, but so that we can benefits others by viewing it as our responsibility to do so. Some people see this, others don't. Professor Ghosh saw a need and has worked diligently to use his talents toward finding a solution. I can think of no better way to live life.

So far in this series I have profiled a ton of astronauts, an excellent basketball coach, the creator of the Wiki concept, a man who rose from the dead to become the Governor of Indiana, and other engineers. These have all been great men and women, but they have never had to do what today's subject did. The United States has not been invaded since the War of 1812, and other than Pearl Harbor, a foreign nation has not fought on U.S. Soil since the Mexican War from 1846-48. Part of the reason we were so badass during World War II comes from being so far from the actual fighting, so our industrial capacity could barely be attacked.

China, however, had a much different problem. During World War II the Chinese suffered bitterly, losing between 10 and 20 million people in the fighting. The Japanese invaded and took over large parts of the country. Their treatment of the Chinese people was not exactly polite, with wonderful things such as the Rape of Nanking, which is about as pleasant as it sounds, occurring. Naturally, the Chinese were pretty pissed off at the Japanese after awhile.

Enter Sun Li-Jen. Li-Jen was a Boilermaker badass who returned to his home country after graduating from Purdue and led the New 1^st Army in defeating the Japanese and returning his homeland to Chinese rule.

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