STS-43

John E. Blaha

• Birthday: 08/26/1942
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/13/1989
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

John Elmer Blaha is a retired United States Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five space missions aboard the Space Shuttle and Mir.

Blaha is married to the former Brenda I. Walters of St. Louis, Missouri. They have three grown children and four grandchildren.

Michael A. Baker

• Birthday: 10/27/1953
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/02/1991
• Last Flight: 01/12/1997

Michael Allen Baker is a retired captain in the United States Navy, former NASA astronaut, and the International Space Station Program Manager for International and Crew Operations, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He is responsible for the coordination of program operations, integration and flight crew training and support activities with the International Partners.

James C. Adamson

• Birthday: 03/03/1946
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/08/1989
• Last Flight: 08/02/1991

James Craig Adamson is a former NASA astronaut and retired Colonel of the United States Army. He is married with 3 children. James Adamson flew on two missions, STS-28 and STS-43, and completed 263 orbits and 334 hours in space. After retiring from NASA, he was recruited by Allied Signal (later merged with Honeywell) where he retired in 2001. Adamson has logged over 3,000 hours in over 30 different types of helicopters and airplanes.

G. David Low

• Birthday: 02/19/1956
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/09/1990
• Last Flight: 06/21/1993

George David Low was an American aerospace executive and a NASA astronaut. He was born in 1956 to Dr. George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. With undergraduate degrees in physics and mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics, he worked in the JPL at the California Institute of Technology in the early 80’s, before being picked as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1984. In addition to holding some technical assignments, he logged more than 700 hours in space (including stints on the Columbia, the Atlantis and the Endeavour), before he left NASA in 1996 to pursue a career in the private sector.

Shannon Lucid

• Birthday: 01/14/1943
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 03/22/1996

Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a retired NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman. She has flown in space five times including a prolonged mission aboard the Mir space station in 1996; she is the only American woman to have served aboard Mir.

STS-43

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

STS-43 was the ninth flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The nine day mission had a primary goal of launching the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-E.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 174 rockets, including 173 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.