STS-133

Steven Lindsey

• Birthday: 08/24/1960
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/19/1997
• Last Flight: 02/24/2011

Steven Wayne Lindsey is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. Lindsey served as Chief of the NASA Astronaut Office from September 2006 until October 2009.

Eric Boe

• Birthday: 10/01/1964
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/15/2008
• Last Flight: 02/24/2011

Eric Allen Boe is a United States Air Force fighter pilot Colonel, test pilot, a Civil Air Patrol member, and a NASA astronaut. He flew as the pilot of Space Shuttle missions STS-126 and STS-133.

Alvin Drew

• Birthday: 11/05/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/08/2007
• Last Flight: 02/24/2011

Colonel Benjamin Alvin Drew is a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. He has been on two spaceflights; the first was the Space Shuttle mission STS-118 to the International Space Station, in August 2007. Drew’s second spaceflight took place in March 2011 on STS-133, another mission to the International Space Station. STS-133 was Space Shuttle Discovery’s final mission. Drew took part in two spacewalks while docked to the station. Drew was the final African-American to fly on board a Space Shuttle, as the final two Space Shuttle missions, STS-134 and STS-135, had no African-American crew members. He also is currently the latest African-American Astronaut to fly in space.

Drew was selected to be an astronaut in NASA’s Astronaut Group 18 in July 2000. Following his rookie spaceflight, Drew spent almost a year at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center in Star City, Russia, overseeing NASA’s training operations there as Director of Operations.

On February 28, 2011, Drew became the 200th person to walk in space, when he conducted the first spacewalk of the STS-133 mission with fellow astronaut Steve Bowen.

Nicole Stott

• Birthday: 11/19/1962
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/29/2009
• Last Flight: 02/24/2011

Nicole Marie Passonno Stott is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She served as a Flight Engineer on ISS Expedition 20 and Expedition 21 and was a Mission Specialist on STS-128 and STS-133. After 27 years of working at NASA, the space agency announced her retirement effective June 1, 2015.

Michael Barratt

• Birthday: 04/16/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/26/2009
• Last Flight: 03/04/2024

Michael Reed Barratt is an American physician and a NASA astronaut. Specializing in aerospace medicine, he served as a flight surgeon for NASA before his selection as an astronaut, and has played a role in developing NASA’s space medicine programs for both the Shuttle-Mir Program and International Space Station. His first spaceflight was a long-duration mission to the International Space Station, as a Flight Engineer in the Expedition 19 and 20 crew. In March 2011, Barratt completed his second spaceflight as a crew member of STS-133.

Stephen Bowen

• Birthday: 02/13/1964
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/15/2008
• Last Flight: 03/02/2023

Stephen Gerard Bowen is a United States Navy submariner and a NASA astronaut; he was the second submariner to travel into space. Bowen has been on three spaceflights, all of which were Space Shuttle missions to the International Space Station. His first mission, STS-126, took place in November 2008, and his second was STS-132 in May 2010.

In March 2011, Bowen completed his third spaceflight as a Mission Specialist on STS-133, which was Space Shuttle Discovery’s final planned flight. Having flown on both STS-132 and STS-133, Bowen became the first and only astronaut to fly on consecutive shuttle missions. Originally Tim Kopra was scheduled to fly on STS-133, but Kopra had a bicycle injury shortly before the mission, and so he was replaced by Bowen.

STS-133

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

STS-133 was an ISS assembly flight. Payload included the Permanent Multipurpose Module Leonardo, which was left permanently docked to one of the station’s ports. The shuttle also carried the third of four ExPRESS Logistics Carriers to the ISS, as well as a humanoid robot called Robonaut.

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.