STS-120

Pamela Melroy

• Birthday: 09/17/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/11/2000
• Last Flight: 10/23/2007

Pamela Anne Melroy is a retired United States Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120 before leaving the agency in August 2009. After serving as Deputy Program Manager, Space Exploration Initiatives with Lockheed Martin, Melroy joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011, where she was a senior technical advisor and director of field operations for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

In 2013, she left the FAA and joined DARPA as Deputy Director of the Tactical Technology Office. She left the agency in February, 2017.

George D. Zamka

• Birthday: 06/29/1962
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/23/2007
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

George David “Zambo” Zamka is an American NASA astronaut and United States Marine Corps pilot with over 3500 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Zamka piloted the Space Shuttle Discovery in its October 2007 mission to the International Space Station and served as the commander of mission STS-130 in February 2010.

Daniel M. Tani

• Birthday: 02/01/1961
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/05/2001
• Last Flight: 10/23/2007

Daniel M. Tani is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. Although born in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, he considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown. With Peggy Whitson, Tani conducted the 100th spacewalk on the International Space Station.

Douglas H. Wheelock

• Birthday: 05/05/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/23/2007
• Last Flight: 06/15/2010

Douglas Harry “Wheels” Wheelock is an American engineer and astronaut. He has flown in space twice, logging 178 days on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Russian Soyuz. On July 12, 2011, Wheelock announced that he would be returning to active duty with the United States Army in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Paolo Nespoli

• Birthday: 04/06/1957
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Italian
• First Flight: 10/23/2007
• Last Flight: 07/28/2017

Paolo Angelo Nespoli (Milan, 6 April 1957) is an Italian astronaut and engineer of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2007, he first traveled into space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist of STS-120. In December 2010 he again traveled into space aboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft as an Expedition 26/27 flight engineer. Nespoli’s third spaceflight was onboard Soyuz MS-05 which launched in July 2017 for Expedition 52/53. He is also the European Space Agency’s oldest active astronaut.

Stephanie Wilson

• Birthday: 09/27/1966
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/04/2006
• Last Flight: 04/05/2010

Stephanie Diana Wilson is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew to space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison. Her 42 days in space are the most of any African American astronaut, male or female.

Scott E. Parazynski

• Birthday: 07/28/1961
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/03/1994
• Last Flight: 10/23/2007

Scott Edward Parazynski is an American physician and a former NASA astronaut. A veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, Parazynski’s latest mission was STS-120 in October, 2007 – highlighted by a dramatic, unplanned EVA to repair a live solar array. In May 2016 he was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame. He retired from NASA in March 2009 to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in the private sector, and he is currently the CEO of a technology start-up. He is the first person to have both flown in space and summited Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.

STS-120

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

STS-120 was a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that launched on 23 October 2007 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mission is also referred to as ISS-10A by the ISS program. STS-120 delivered the Harmony module and reconfigured a portion of the station in preparation for future assembly missions. STS-120 was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and was the twenty-third space shuttle mission to the ISS.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 173 rockets, including 172 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.