STS-76

Kevin P. Chilton

• Birthday: 11/03/1954
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 05/07/1992
• Last Flight: 03/22/1996

Kevin Patrick “Chilli” Chilton is an American mechanical engineer, and former United States Air Force four-star General and test pilot. His last assignment was as Commander, U.S. Strategic Command from October 3, 2007 to January 28, 2011. Prior to his appointment to general officer ranks, Chilton spent 11 years of his military career as a NASA astronaut. He retired from the Air Force on February 1, 2011, after having achieved the highest rank of any military astronaut. On January 30, 2012, General Chilton was named to the board of directors of Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Richard A. Searfoss

• Birthday: 06/05/1956
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/18/1993
• Last Flight: 04/17/1998

Richard Alan Searfoss was an American aviator who was United States Air Force colonel, NASA astronaut and test pilot.

Ronald M. Sega

• Birthday: 12/04/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/03/1994
• Last Flight: 03/22/1996

Ronald “Ron” Michael Sega is professor of systems engineering and Vice President for Energy and the Environment at the Colorado State University Research Foundation, a non-profit advocacy organization supporting CSU. He is also the Vice President and Enterprise Executive for Energy and Environment at The Ohio State University. From August 2005 to August 2007, he served as Under Secretary of the Air Force. He is a retired Major General in the United States Air Force and a former NASA astronaut. Sega was born in Cleveland, Ohio, he is of Slovene origin. He was married to fellow astronaut Bonnie J. Dunbar. He is now married to Ann Sega and they have two sons. He has lived in both Northfield, Ohio and Colorado Springs.

Michael R. Clifford

• Birthday: 10/13/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/02/1992
• Last Flight: 03/22/1996

Michael Richard Uram “Rich” Clifford is a former United States Army officer and NASA astronaut. Clifford is considered a Master Army Aviator and has logged over 3,400 hours flying in a wide variety of fixed and rotary winged aircraft. Clifford retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has logged over 12 hours of spacewalk time over three Space Shuttle missions. He is also one of the first people to conduct a spacewalk while docked to an orbiting space station. The spacewalk was conducted during STS-76, while docked at the Russian space station Mir.

Linda M. Godwin

• Birthday: 07/02/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/05/1991
• Last Flight: 12/05/2001

Linda Maxine Godwin Ph.D. is an American scientist and retired NASA astronaut. Godwin joined NASA in 1980 and became an astronaut in July 1986. She retired in 2010. During her career, Godwin completed four space flights and logged over 38 days in space. Godwin also served as the Assistant to the Director for Exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center. Since retiring from NASA, she accepted the position of Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri.

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-76

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

STS-76 was NASA’s 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST (UTC −5) from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B. STS-76 lasted over 9 days, traveled about 3,800,000 miles (6,100,000 km) while orbiting Earth an estimated 145 times, and landing at 5:28 am PST (UTC −8) on 31 March 1996 at Edwards Air Force Base runway 22.

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.