STS-98

Kenneth Cockrell

• Birthday: 04/09/1950
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/08/1993
• Last Flight: 06/05/2002

Kenneth Dale “Taco” Cockrell is an American astronaut and a veteran of five space shuttle missions.

Mark L. Polansky

• Birthday: 06/02/1956
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/07/2001
• Last Flight: 07/15/2009

Mark Lewis “Roman” Polansky is an American aerospace engineer and research pilot and a former NASA astronaut. Polansky received the nickname “Roman” as a joke, because he shares a last name with director Roman Polanski. He flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-98, STS-116, and STS-127.

Robert Curbeam

• Birthday: 03/05/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/07/1997
• Last Flight: 12/10/2006

Robert Lee Curbeam, Jr. is a former NASA astronaut and captain in the United States Navy.

Curbeam graduated from Woodlawn High School, Baltimore County, Maryland in 1980. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1984, a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1990, and a master’s degree in Astronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1991.

He is a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association and the Association of Old Crows.

Curbeam was named Fighter Wing One Radar Intercept Officer of the Year in 1989 and received the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School Best Developmental Thesis (DT-II) Award.

He currently holds the record for the most spacewalks during a single spaceflight. During the STS-116 mission, Curbeam completed four spacewalks.

Thomas David Jones

• Birthday: 01/22/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/09/1994
• Last Flight: 02/07/2001

Thomas David Jones is a former United States astronaut. He was selected to the astronaut corps in 1990 and completed four space shuttle flights before retiring in 2001. He flew on STS-59 and STS-68 in 1994, STS-80 in 1996 and STS-98 in 2001. His total mission time was 53 days 48 minutes. He works as a planetary scientist, space operations consultant, astronaut speaker, and author.

Marsha Ivins

• Birthday: 04/15/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/09/1990
• Last Flight: 02/07/2001

Marsha Sue Ivins is an American former astronaut and a veteran of five space shuttle missions.

STS-98

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

STS-98 was a 2001 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis. It was the first human spaceflight launch of the 21st century. STS-98 delivered to the station the Destiny Laboratory Module.

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.