STS-79

William F. Readdy

• Birthday: 01/24/1952
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/22/1992
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters.

He graduated from McLean High School, McLean, Virginia, in 1970 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering (with honors) from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974. He’s a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School 1980. Readdy is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Explorers Club, and the Royal Astronautical Society and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He also belongs to the Association of Space Explorers.

Terrence W. Wilcutt

• Birthday: 10/31/1949
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/30/1994
• Last Flight: 09/08/2000

Terrence Wade Wilcutt is a United States Marine Corps officer and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. Wilcutt is currently the Director of Safety and Mission Assurance, Johnson Space Center.

Carl E. Walz

• Birthday: 09/06/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/12/1993
• Last Flight: 12/05/2001

Carl Erwin Walz is a former NASA astronaut currently working for Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Advanced Programs Group as Vice President for Human Space Flight Operations. Walz was formerly assigned to the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He was the Acting Director for the Advanced Capabilities Division in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, and was responsible for a broad range of activities to include Human Research, Technology Development, Nuclear Power and Propulsion and the Lunar Robotic Exploration Programs to support the Vision for Space Exploration.

Jerome Apt

• Birthday: 04/28/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/05/1991
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

Jerome “Jay” Apt III, Ph.D. (born April 28, 1949 in Massachusetts) is an American astronaut and professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Before he became an astronaut, Apt was a physicist who worked on the Pioneer Venus 1978 space probe project, and used visible light and infrared techniques to study the planets and moons of the solar system from ground-based observatories.

Thomas Akers

• Birthday: 05/20/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/06/1990
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

Thomas Dale Akers is a former American astronaut in NASA’s Space Shuttle program.

John E. Blaha

• Birthday: 08/26/1942
• Role: Mission Specialist
• 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.

STS-79

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

STS-79 was the 17th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and the 79th mission of the Space Shuttle program. The flight saw Atlantis dock with the Russian space station Mir to deliver equipment, supplies and relief personnel. A variety of scientific experiments were also conducted aboard Atlantis by her crew. It was the first shuttle mission to rendezvous with a fully assembled Mir, and the fourth rendezvous of a shuttle to the space station.

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.

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.