STS-93

Eileen Collins

• Birthday: 11/19/1956
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 02/03/1995
• Last Flight: 07/26/2005

Eileen Marie Collins is a retired NASA astronaut and a retired United States Air Force colonel. A former military instructor ...

Jeffrey Ashby

• Birthday: 06/16/1954
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 07/23/1999
• Last Flight: 10/07/2002

Jeffrey Shears "Bones" Ashby is an American mechanical engineer, and former naval officer and aviator, test pilot a...

Michel Tognini

• Birthday: 09/30/1949
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: France
• First Flight: 07/27/1992
• Last Flight: 07/23/1999

Michel Ange-Charles Tognini (born September 30, 1949 in Vincennes, France) is a French test pilot, Brigadier General in the F...

Catherine Coleman

• Birthday: 12/14/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 10/20/1995
• Last Flight: 12/15/2010

Catherine Grace "Cady" Coleman is an American chemist, a former United States Air Force officer, and a former NASA ...

Steven Hawley

• Birthday: 12/12/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: United States of America
• First Flight: 08/30/1984
• Last Flight: 07/23/1999

Steven Alan Hawley is a former NASA astronaut who flew on five U.S. Space Shuttle flights. He is professor of physics and ast...

Mission

STS-93

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

STS-93 marked the 95th launch of the Space Shuttle, the 26th launch of Columbia, and the 21st night launch of a Space Shuttle. Eileen Collins became the first female shuttle Commander on this flight. Its primary payload was the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Location

Launch Complex 39B

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Find the best place to watch the launch from Florida

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 257 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.