STS-117

Frederick W. Sturckow

• Birthday: 08/11/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/04/1998
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

Frederick Wilford “Rick” Sturckow is an Engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former NASA astronaut, and commercial spacecraft pilot. Sturckow is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. He flew on STS-88 and STS-105 as a pilot and STS-117 and STS-128 as a commander. All four missions docked with the International Space Station, making Sturckow one of two people to visit the station four times. Sturckow later was assigned to the Johnson Space Center as a CAPCOM. He left NASA in 2013 to become a pilot for Virgin Galactic.

Lee Archambault

• Birthday: 08/25/1960
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/08/2007
• Last Flight: 03/15/2009

Lee Joseph “Bru” Archambault is an American test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He has logged over 4,250 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Archambault is married with three children. His hobbies include bicycling, weightlifting, and playing ice hockey. Archambault has received numerous awards and honors throughout his life. He has also flown two Space Shuttle missions, as pilot of STS-117 in 2007 and as commander of STS-119 in 2009. Archambault left NASA in 2013 after a 15-year career with the agency in order to become a test pilot for Sierra Nevada Corporation on their Dream Chaser orbital spaceplane project.

Clayton Anderson

• Birthday: 02/23/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/08/2007
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Clayton Conrad Anderson is a retired NASA astronaut. Launched on STS-117, he replaced Sunita Williams on June 10, 2007 as a member of the ISS Expedition 15 crew.

John D. Olivas

• Birthday: 05/25/1966
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/08/2007
• Last Flight: 08/29/2009

John Daniel “Danny” Olivas is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. Olivas has flown on two space shuttle missions, STS-117 and STS-128. He performed EVAs on both missions, totaling 34hrs 28min.

In 2013 Olivas joined the University of Texas at El Paso as Director of the Center for the Advancement of Space Safety and Mission Assurance Research (CASSMAR) and will oversee space initiatives on campus.

James F. Reilly

• Birthday: 03/18/1954
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/23/1998
• Last Flight: 06/08/2007

James Francis Reilly II is an American geologist and a former NASA astronaut. He flew on three space shuttle missions: STS-89, STS-104 and STS-117.

Patrick G. Forrester

• Birthday: 03/31/1957
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/10/2001
• Last Flight: 08/29/2009

Patrick Graham Forrester is a retired United States Army officer and a NASA astronaut. At the time of his retirement from the U.S. Army, Forrester had achieved the rank of colonel. He is married and has two children.

Forrester has flown on three Space Shuttle missions, STS-105, STS-117 and STS-128. He is the current Chief of the Astronaut Office, having assumed the role from Chris Cassidy in June 2017.

Steven Swanson

• Birthday: 12/03/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/08/2007
• Last Flight: 03/25/2014

Steven Ray Swanson is an American Engineer and a retired NASA astronaut. He is married and has three children. He has received numerous awards and honors. These include the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the JSC Certificate of Accommodation and many others. Prior to becoming a NASA astronaut, Swanson worked for GTE in Phoenix, Arizona, as a software engineer. Swanson has flown two shuttle flights, STS-117 and STS-119. He has logged over 4,700 hours in space and completed four spacewalks totaling 26 hours and 14 minutes. Swanson has also served in other roles at NASA, such as a CAPCOM for both International Space Station and Space Shuttle missions.

STS-117

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

STS-117 (ISS assembly flight 13A) was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis, launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center on 8 June 2007. Atlantis lifted off from the launch pad at 19:38 EDT. Damage from a hail storm on 26 February 2007 had previously caused the launch to be postponed from an originally-planned launch date of 15 March 2007. The launch of STS-117 marked the 250th orbital human spaceflight. Atlantis delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) the second starboard truss segment (the S3/S4 Truss) and its associated energy systems, including a set of solar arrays. During the course of the mission the crew installed the new truss segment, retracted one set of solar arrays, and unfolded the new set on the starboard side of the station. STS-117 also brought Expedition 15 crewmember Clayton Anderson to the station, and returned with ISS crewmember Sunita Williams.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 173 rockets, including 172 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 231 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.