STS-55

Steven R. Nagel

• Birthday: 10/27/1946
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/17/1985
• Last Flight: 04/26/1993

Steven Ray Nagel was an American astronaut, aeronautical and mechanical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot.

Terence Henricks

• Birthday: 07/05/1952
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/24/1991
• Last Flight: 06/20/1996

Terence Thomas “Tom” Henricks is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and a former NASA astronaut. Selected by NASA in June 1985, Henricks became an astronaut in July 1986 and served on four Space Shuttle missions.

Ulrich Walter

• Birthday: 02/09/1954
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: German
• First Flight: 04/26/1993
• Last Flight: 04/26/1993

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a German physicist/engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut.
In 1993, he flew on board the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-55 (Spacelab D-2) as a Payload Specialist. He spent 9 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes in space.

Bernard Harris

• Birthday: 06/26/1956
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/26/1993
• Last Flight: 02/03/1995

Bernard Anthony Harris Jr. is a former NASA astronaut. On February 9, 1995, Harris became the first African American to perform an extra-vehicular activity (spacewalk), during the second of his two Space Shuttle flights.

Hans Schlegel

• Birthday: 08/03/1951
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: German
• First Flight: 04/26/1993
• Last Flight: 02/07/2008

Hans Wilhelm Schlegel (Überlingen, 3 August 1951) is a German physicist, an ESA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions.
From 1995 to 1997, he trained as the backup crew member for the German-Russian Mir’97 mission, and afterwards received additional training in Russia to become qualified as a second board engineer for the Mir space station. In 1998, he became a member of the European Astronaut Corps.

Schlegel was a Mission Specialist on the STS-122 Space Shuttle mission. The mission was charged with the responsibility of putting the Columbus laboratory in orbit, in addition to its connection to the International Space Station.

Charles J. Precourt

• Birthday: 06/29/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/26/1993
• Last Flight: 06/02/1998

Charles Joseph Precourt is a retired NASA astronaut. His career in flight began at an early age, and spans his entire lifetime. He served in the US Air Force, piloted numerous jet aircraft, and piloted and commanded the Space Shuttle. Notably, he piloted or commanded several missions which involved docking with the Russian Mir space station and was heavily involved in Russian/US Space relations as well as the International Space Station collaboration. He retired from the USAF with the rank of Colonel.

Jerry L. Ross

• Birthday: 01/20/1948
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/27/1985
• Last Flight: 04/08/2002

Jerry Lynn Ross is a retired United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of seven Space Shuttle missions, making him the joint record holder for most spaceflights (a record he shares with Franklin Chang-Diaz). His papers, photographs and many personal items are in the Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives at Purdue University. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame during ceremonies in May 2014.

Ross is the author of Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer (Purdue University Press, 2013) with John Norberg. In March 2014 it was announced “Spacewalker” will be available in a French translation through the specialist aerospace publisher Altipresse.

Fellow astronaut Chris Hadfield describes Ross in his autobiography, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, as “the embodiment of the trustworthy, loyal, courteous and brave astronaut archetype.”

STS-55

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

STS-55 (Space Transportation System 55), or D-2 was the 55th overall flight of the US Space Shuttle and the 14th flight of Shuttle Columbia. This flight was a multinational Spacelab flight involving 88 experiments from eleven different nations. The experiments ranged from biology sciences to simple earth observations.

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.