STS-62

John Casper

• Birthday: 07/09/1943
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/28/1990
• Last Flight: 05/19/1996

John Howard Casper is an American astronaut and United States Air Force pilot.

Andrew M. Allen

• Birthday: 08/04/1955
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/31/1992
• Last Flight: 02/22/1996

Andrew Michael “Andy” Allen is a retired American astronaut. A former Marine aviator and lieutenant colonel, he worked as a test pilot before joining NASA in 1987. He flew three Space Shuttle missions before retiring in 1997.

Charles D. Gemar

• Birthday: 08/04/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/15/1990
• Last Flight: 03/04/1994

Charles Donald “Sam” Gemar is an American former astronaut with NASA and a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army. Gemar has flown on three Space Shuttle missions (STS-38, STS-48 and STS-62). Gemar has completed 385 orbits of the Earth and over 581 hours in space. He has also served in different positions in NASA, including as a CAPCOM for Shuttle missions. Gemar was the first astronaut to be born in the state of South Dakota.

Pierre J. Thuot

• Birthday: 05/19/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/28/1990
• Last Flight: 03/04/1994

Pierre Joseph Thuot is a retired United States Navy Captain and NASA astronaut. He went into space three times, spending over 650 hours in space, including over 15 hours in three space walks. He is a former U.S. record holder for time spent on one space walk, and participated in the first three-person space walk.

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-62

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

STS-62 was a Space Shuttle program mission flown aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. The primary payloads were the USMP-02 microgravity experiments package and the OAST-2 engineering and technology payload, both in the orbiter’s cargo bay. The two-week mission also featured a number of biomedical experiments focusing on the effects of long duration spaceflight.

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.