STS-114

Eileen Collins

• Birthday: 11/19/1956
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• 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 and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Colonel Collins has logged 38 days 8 hours and 20 minutes in outer space. Collins retired on May 1, 2006, to pursue private interests, including service as a board member of USAA.

James M. Kelly

• Birthday: 05/14/1964
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/08/2001
• Last Flight: 07/26/2005

James McNeal “Vegas” Kelly is a NASA Astronaut and a retired Colonel of the United States Air Force. He twice served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions.

Charles Camarda

• Birthday: 05/08/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/26/2005
• Last Flight: 07/26/2005

Charles Joseph “Charlie” Camarda is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut who flew his first mission into space on board the Space Shuttle mission STS-114. He served as Senior Advisor for Engineering Development at NASA Langley Research Center.

Soichi Noguchi

• Birthday: 04/15/1965
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Japanese
• First Flight: 07/26/2005
• Last Flight: 11/16/2020

Soichi Noguchi (野口 聡一 Noguchi Sōichi, born 15 April 1965 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese aeronautical engineer and former JAXA astronaut. His first spaceflight was as a Mission Specialist aboard STS-114 on 26 July 2005 for NASA’s first “return to flight” Space Shuttle mission after the Columbia disaster. He was most recently in space as part of the Soyuz TMA-17 crew and Expedition 22 to the International Space Station (ISS), returning to Earth on 2 June 2010. He is the fifth Japanese astronaut to fly in space and the fourth to fly on the space shuttle.

Andy Thomas

• Birthday: 12/18/1951
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 05/19/1996
• Last Flight: 07/26/2005

Andrew “Andy” Sydney Withiel Thomas, AO is an Australian-born American aerospace engineer and a NASA astronaut. He became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA’s astronaut program. He is married to fellow NASA astronaut Shannon Walker.

Stephen Robinson

• Birthday: 10/26/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/07/1997
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

Stephen Kern Robinson is a former NASA astronaut.

Wendy B. Lawrence

• Birthday: 07/02/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/02/1995
• Last Flight: 07/26/2005

Wendy Barrien Lawrence is a retired United States Navy Captain, former helicopter pilot, an engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. She was the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to fly into space and she has also visited the Russian Space Station Mir. She was a mission specialist on STS-114, the first Space Shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

STS-114

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

STS-114 was the first “Return to Flight” Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Discovery launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC), 26 July 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) after the loss of Columbia, was approved despite unresolved fuel sensor anomalies in the external tank that had prevented the shuttle from launching on 13 July, its originally scheduled date.

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 231 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.