STS-39

Michael Coats

• Birthday: 01/16/1946
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1984
• Last Flight: 04/28/1991

Michael Lloyd Coats is a former NASA astronaut (three spaceflights), raised in Riverside, California. From December 2005 to December 2012, he served as Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Lloyd Hammond

• Birthday: 01/16/1952
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/28/1991
• Last Flight: 09/09/1994

Lloyd Blaine Hammond Jr. is a Gulfstream test pilot, a former United States Air Force officer, and a former NASA astronaut. He flew on two Space Shuttle missions. Selected by NASA in May 1984, Hammond became an astronaut in June 1985 and qualified for assignment as a pilot/commander on Space Shuttle flight crews.

Charles L. Veach

• Birthday: 09/18/1944
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/28/1991
• Last Flight: 10/22/1992

Charles Lacy Veach was a USAF fighter pilot and NASA astronaut.

Donald R. McMonagle

• Birthday: 05/14/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/28/1991
• Last Flight: 11/03/1994

Donald Ray McMonagle is a former astronaut and a veteran of three shuttle flights. He became the Manager, Launch Integration, at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 15, 1997. In this capacity he was responsible for final shuttle preparation, launch execution, and return of the orbiter to KSC following landings at any other location. He was chair of the Mission Management Team, and was the final authority for launch decision.

Richard Hieb

• Birthday: 09/21/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/28/1991
• Last Flight: 07/08/1994

Richard James Hieb is a former NASA astronaut and a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He was a mission specialist on STS-39 and STS-49, and was a payload commander on STS-65.

Gregory Harbaugh

• Birthday: 04/15/1956
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/28/1991
• Last Flight: 02/11/1997

Gregory Jordan Harbaugh is a former NASA astronaut that spent 34 days in space through four Space Shuttle missions including the first . docking missions with the Russian Space Station Mir and the second Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

Guion Bluford

• Birthday: 11/22/1942
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/30/1983
• Last Flight: 12/02/1992

Guion Stewart Bluford Jr., Ph.D. is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer and fighter pilot, and former NASA astronaut, who was the first African American in space.[1] Before becoming an astronaut, he was an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he remained while assigned to NASA, rising to the rank of Colonel. He participated in four Space Shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992. In 1983, as a member of the crew of the Orbiter Challenger on the mission STS-8, he became the first African American in space as well as the second person of African ancestry in space, after Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez.

STS-39

• Type: Government/Top Secret
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $450,000,000

STS-39 was the twelfth mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery and its primary purpose was to conduct a variety of payload experiments for the Department of Defence.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 186 rockets, including 185 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 244 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.