STS-110

Michael J. Bloomfield

• Birthday: 03/16/1959
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/26/1997
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Michael John “Bloomer” Bloomfield is an American former astronaut and a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.

Stephen Frick

• Birthday: 09/30/1964
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/08/2002
• Last Flight: 02/07/2008

Stephen Nathaniel Frick is an American astronaut and a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Frick graduated from Pine-Richland High School in 1982, earned a degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1986, was commissioned as a United States Navy officer, and trained as a F/A-18 fighter pilot. Stationed aboard the carrier USS Saratoga, he flew combat missions during the Gulf War and then earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994.

Frick was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1996 and was trained as a Space Shuttle pilot. He piloted mission STS-110, a docking mission with the International Space Station.

In July 2006, Frick was assigned to command the crew of STS-122. The 12-day mission delivered the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory and returned Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel M. Tani to Earth. The mission launched February 7, 2008, and touched down February 20, 2008. NASA announced his retirement in July 2015.

Lee Morin

• Birthday: 09/09/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/08/2002
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Lee Miller Emile Morin is a United States Navy Captain and NASA astronaut. He flew on STS-110 in 2002.

Rex J. Walheim

• Birthday: 10/10/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/08/2002
• Last Flight: 07/08/2011

Rex Joseph Walheim is a retired United States Air Force officer, engineer and NASA astronaut. He flew three space shuttle missions, STS-110, STS-122, and STS-135. Walheim logged over 566 hours in space, including 36 hours and 23 minutes of spacewalk (EVA) time. He was assigned as mission specialist and flight engineer on STS-135, the final space shuttle mission.

Ellen Ochoa

• Birthday: 05/10/1958
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/08/1993
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer, former astronaut and the current Director of the Johnson Space Center. Ochoa became director of the center upon the retirement of the previous director, Michael Coats, on December 31, 2012. In 1993 Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman in the world to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery.

Steven Smith

• Birthday: 12/30/1958
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/30/1994
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Steven Lee Smith is an American technology executive and former NASA astronaut, being a veteran of four space flights covering 16 million miles and seven space walks totaling 49 hours and 25 minutes. Smith’s spacewalk time places him in the top ten on the all-time American and World spacewalk duration lists.

Jerry L. Ross

• Birthday: 01/20/1948
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/27/1985
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Jerry Lynn Ross is a retired United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the joint record holder for most spaceflights (a record he shares with Franklin Chang-Diaz). His papers, photographs and many personal items are in the Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives at Purdue University. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame during ceremonies in May 2014.

Ross is the author of Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer (Purdue University Press, 2013) with John Norberg. In March 2014 it was announced “Spacewalker” will be available in a French translation through the specialist aerospace publisher Altipresse.

Fellow astronaut Chris Hadfield describes Ross in his autobiography, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, as “the embodiment of the trustworthy, loyal, courteous and brave astronaut archetype.”

STS-110

• Type: Human Exploration
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-110 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 8–19 April 2002 flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. The main purpose was to install the S0 Truss segment, which forms the backbone of the truss structure on the station.

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39B has witnessed the launch of 58 rockets, including 57 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 232 rocket launches.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS). Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

United Space Alliance

United Space Alliance (USA) is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.