STS-26

Frederick “Rick” Hauck

• Birthday: 04/11/1941
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/18/1983
• Last Flight: 09/29/1988

Frederick Hamilton “Rick” Hauck is a retired Captain in the United States Navy, a former fighter pilot and NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-7 and commanded STS-51-A and STS-26.

Richard O. Covey

• Birthday: 08/01/1946
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/27/1985
• Last Flight: 12/02/1993

Richard Oswalt Covey is a retired United States Air Force officer and former NASA astronaut.

George Nelson

• Birthday: 07/13/1950
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/06/1984
• Last Flight: 09/29/1988

George Driver “Pinky” Nelson is an American physicist, astronomer, science educator, and a former NASA astronaut.

John M. Lounge

• Birthday: 06/28/1946
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/27/1985
• Last Flight: 12/02/1990

ohn Michael “Mike” Lounge was an American engineer, a United States Navy officer, a Vietnam War veteran, and a NASA astronaut. A veteran of three Space Shuttle flights, Lounge logged over 482 hours in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51-I (1985) and STS-26 (1988) and was the flight engineer on STS-35 (1990).

David Hilmers

• Birthday: 01/28/1950
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/03/1985
• Last Flight: 01/22/1992

David Carl Hilmers is a former NASA astronaut. Hilmers was selected a NASA astronaut in July 1980, and completed the initial training period in August 1981. A veteran of four space flights, he has logged over 493 hours in space.

STS-26

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

STS-26 was the twenty-sixth space shuttle mission and the seventh flight of the orbiter Discovery. It was the return to flight mission after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It was the first to have all of its crew members wear pressure suits for launch and landing since STS-4 and the first mission with bailout capability since STS-4. It was also the first all-veteran crew mission since Apollo-11 with all of its crew having flown at least on prior mission.

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 241 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.