Research has uncovered that he was born in the English county of Buckinghamshire, as RichardPatrick Russ, although he probably spent some of his early life in the west of Ireland.
Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey) and Richard Bryan (Nevada) joined New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan in announcing they would not seek re-election.
The British Interplanetary Society has commissioned 10 silver pins, and Dr Patrick is the fourth person to receive one after Helen Sharman, Richard Garriott and Piers Sellers.