CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Seven NASA
astronauts are spending what they hope will be their last day on Earth before
launching toward the International Space Station Friday night aboard the
shuttle Endeavour.
The five-man, two-woman crew of
Endeavour is a mix of spaceflight veterans and first-time flyers, but wholly
committed to making vital repairs and delivering new gear to double
the station's occupancy up to six people next year.
"I think every commander would like
to think that he's got the best crew that was ever assembled to fly a space
station mission. I'm no exception," said Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson in
a NASA interview. "These folks are extremely talented, extremely hard-working."
Endeavour is slated to launch toward
the space station Friday at 7:55 p.m. EST (0055 Nov. 15 GMT) on a planned
15-day mission that will span Thanksgiving and the orbital laboratory's 10th
anniversary on Nov. 20.
Here's a look at Endeavour's
seven-astronaut crew as they prepare for liftoff:
Taking command
Shuttle commander Chris Ferguson is
making his second trip to space on Endeavour's STS-126 mission, but it's his
first trip in charge. He spent 12 days in space as the pilot for shuttle
Atlantis to help deliver
new U.S. solar arrays to the station in 2006.
"It is so much different this time
than it was the last time around," Ferguson, 47, told reporters last week. "Of
course, as commander you worry a bit more."
A U.S. Navy captain, Ferguson grew
up in Philadelphia, Pa., and quenched his early thirst for spaceflight by following
NASA's Apollo and Skylab missions as a child. He watched the first shuttle
launch in 1981 while in college and ultimately joined NASA's astronaut corps in
1998.
When he's not flying a NASA shuttle,
Ferguson plays drums in the all-astronaut band Max Q, and is looking forward to
seeing how the space station has changed with the addition of new solar wings
and international laboratory modules since his last flight.
"I'm just thrilled to be going back
there," he said.
Ferguson and his wife, Sandra, have
a 16-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 14 and 12.
First-time flyer
At 44, U.S. Air Force Col. Eric Boe
is making his first foray into space as Endeavour's pilot, but remembers
starting on the path at age 5, when his parents sat him down in front of the
television to witness history.
"Years later, I can still remember
the image on the black and white TV of seeing the moon landing, and that kind
of put a little nugget in my brain to think about doing that in the future," he
said in a NASA interview.
Boe grew up in Atlanta and made good
on that nugget in 2000, when he joined NASA's astronaut corps and he's eagerly
awaiting his first impressions and sensations after reaching space.
"I've seen lots of pictures of
space, but it's kind of like looking at someone's vacation through pictures
when they've come back," Boe told reporters last week. "When you've taken the
pictures yourself you kind of have a different perspective on what those
pictures mean."
Boe and wife, Kristen, have a
10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son.
Home, sweet, (space) home
Endeavour mission specialist Don
Pettit considers Friday night's launch as a return home of sorts. After all,
he's still got some stuff stashed away aboard the International Space Station
from when he lived aboard the
orbital laboratory for about 5 1/2 months in 2002 and 2003.
"I think of the station as sort of
my home away from home," Pettit, 53 told SPACE.com last week. "So I sort
of feel like I'm going back home, only it's just for a visit and not to stay."
Pettit was in space during NASA's
tragic 2003 loss of the shuttle Columbia and its crew. He later landed aboard a
Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which returned to Earth in a steeper than usual
descent and was out of contact with recovery crews for a time.
On Endeavour's flight, Pettit will
oversee the delivery of fresh cargo and a water recycling system to the station
as the mission's loadmaster, as well as fly the outpost's robotic arm.
But Pettit, a chemical engineer who
spent his weekends in space performing extra science or tinkering with broken
equipment, also said he's hoping to seek some his old stuff, including the
station's mysterious Strange Tool Bag, which he remembers fondly from his last
flight.
"In this Strange Tool Bag are a
couple of my favorite tools and I will be anxious to see those tools are still
there," Pettit said.
Pettit grew up in Silverton, Ore.,
and is married to wife Micki. They have twin sons who will turn 8 on Nov. 29,
when Endeavour is currently slated to land. Pettit missed the boys' 2nd
birthday during his first spaceflight, and has packed some brownies in his
luggage to serve as space birthday cakes for his sons when he returns.
The submariner spaceman
Navy Capt. Steve Bowen joined NASA's
astronaut corps in 2000 as the first-ever submarine officer to turn spaceflyer.
He's looking forward to some breathing room aboard Endeavour in space, which
he'll share with just six other people as compared to the 100 or so crewmates
aboard a Navy submarine.
"My wife said 'Steve will be so
happy, he's never had so much room his entire life,'" Bowen, 44, said of his
wife Deborah's first impressions of the shuttle's interior.
Bowen will perform three of the four
spacewalks during Endeavour's flight, with most of that work aimed at cleaning
and greasing up the space station's balky starboard solar array joint. He grew
up in Cohasset, Mass., and has two sons, ages 17 and 12, and a 15-year-old
daughter. He will make his first spaceflight during
Endeavour's flight.
There're a lot of similarities
between flying in a confined are with others in a spaceship and shipping out in
a sealed submarine for months on end, but Bowen said he's especially interested
in seeing how space food - especially on Thanksgiving - compares with the lofty
reputation of his beloved submarine mess hall.
"It's one of the things the submarine
force is noted for, is their food," he said. Good eats, even underwater, are
good for crew morale, he added.
Spacewalk veteran
Leading Endeavour's spacewalking
crew is Navy Capt. Heidemarie "Heide" Stefanyshyn-Piper, who last visited the
station with Ferguson during their 2006 mission aboard Atlantis.
Stefanyshyn-Piper, 45, has two
spacewalks under her belt from her last mission and will add three more during
Endeavour's flight to spearhead the repair of the station's solar array joint. The
St. Paul, Minn.-native initially hoped to fly aircraft for the Navy but failed
the eye exam, so she took to salvage diving instead.
"I was fixing ships for the Navy,
doing underwater ship repair and I thought 'You know if I could fix ships
underwater, I can build a space station in space,'" Stefanyshyn-Piper said in a
NASA interview.
Stefanyshyn-Piper joined NASA's
astronaut corps in 1996 and is married to husband, Glenn. They have a
19-year-old son in college.
The new class
Rounding out Endeavour's
spacewalking team is U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert "Shane" Kimbrough, 41, who is
the first of NASA's newest U.S. astronaut class to fly.
"It's really an honor to be in that
position," Kimbrough, 41, told SPACE.com. "When we first got here in the
program in 2004, we were told he you may never fly anything."
But flying in space seems to be in
Kimbrough's blood. While he grew up in Atlanta, his grandparents lived near
NASA's Kennedy Space Center here, so as a child he watched all of the Apollo
missions blast off until rocket launches became the norm.
A veteran Army helicopter pilot,
Kimbrough is making his first spaceflight aboard Endeavour and will perform two
spacewalks. He drew on his Army parachutist training while preparing for the
spacewalks, both of which require the utmost precision, he said.
Kimbrough and his wife Robbie Lynn
have twin daughters, age 11, and an 8-year-old son.
Space station's new tenant
Astronaut Sandra Magnus, 44, is
pulling double duty as both a shuttle and space station crewmember during
Endeavour's mission. She will launch aboard the shuttle late Friday, but then
replace NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff as part of the station's Expedition 18
crew for the next 3 1/2 months.
"It's actually starting to feel
real," Magnus told SPACE.com.
Magnus grew up in Belleville, Ill.,
where the idea of becoming an astronaut grew stronger over time into a
full-fledged mission until she joined NASA's spaceflying ranks in 1996.
"Just the whole idea of exploring
and learning new things just grabbed me, and space was the place to do it," she
said in a NASA interview.
Magnus will spend the bulk of her
time aboard the station activating the new gear riding up to the outpost aboard
Endeavour, including the water recycling equipment, a spare kitchen and second
toilet and other equipment. The mission will mark her second spaceflight. She
last flew to the station during a two-week shuttle flight in 2002.
"When you arrive on the shuttle, you
have things to do ... and you really don't have time to think and take in your
environment in the way that I will on the space station," she said. "So I think
it's going to be very, very interesting."
advertisement
