STS-79

William F. Readdy

• Birthday: 01/24/1952
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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.
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Terrence W. Wilcutt

• Birthday: 10/31/1949
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 mis...

Carl E. Walz

• Birthday: 09/06/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 Vi...

Jerome Apt

• Birthday: 04/28/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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 Carneg...

Thomas Akers

• Birthday: 05/20/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• 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: United States of America
• 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 miss...

Mission

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.

Location

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 208 rockets, including 207 orbital launch attempts. While Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 266 rocket launches.

The John F. Kennedy Space Center, located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of NASA's ten field centers. Since 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).

Rocket

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.

Learn more about the Space Shuttle

Agency

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.