STS-42

Ronald J. Grabe

• Birthday: 06/13/1945
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/03/1985
• Last Flight: 06/21/1993

Ronald John Grabe is a former NASA astronaut.

He has earned the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 7 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal, the Liethen-Tittle Award (for Outstanding Student at the USAF Test Pilot School), the Royal Air Force Cross, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medals.

Stephen S. Oswald

• Birthday: 06/30/1951
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/22/1992
• Last Flight: 03/02/1995

Stephen Scot Oswald is a former NASA astronaut.

Roberta Bondar

• Birthday: 12/04/1945
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: Canadian
• First Flight: 01/22/1992
• Last Flight: 01/22/1992

Roberta Bondar (born December 4, 1945) is Canada’s first female astronaut and the first neurologist in space. Following more than a decade as NASA’s head of space medicine, Bondar became a consultant and speaker in the business, scientific, and medical communities.

Bondar has received many honours including the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the NASA Space Medal, over 22 honorary degrees and induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Ulf Merbold

• Birthday: 06/20/1941
• Role: Payload Specialist
• Nationality: German
• First Flight: 11/28/1983
• Last Flight: 10/03/1994

Dr. Ulf Dietrich Merbold (born June 20, 1941) is the first West German citizen and second German native (after Sigmund Jähn) to have flown in space. He is also the first member of the European Space Agency Astronaut Corps to participate in a spaceflight mission and the first non-US citizen to reach orbit in a US spacecraft. In 1983, he and Byron Lichtenberg became the first Payload Specialists to fly on the shuttle.

William F. Readdy

• Birthday: 01/24/1952
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 01/22/1992
• Last Flight: 09/16/1996

William Francis Readdy is a former Associate Administrator of the Office of Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters.

He graduated from McLean High School, McLean, Virginia, in 1970 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering (with honors) from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1974. He’s a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School 1980. Readdy is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Explorers Club, and the Royal Astronautical Society and is an Associate Fellow of the AIAA. He also belongs to the Association of Space Explorers.

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.

Norman E. Thagard

• Birthday: 07/03/1943
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 06/18/1983
• Last Flight: 03/14/1995

Norman Earl Thagard (born July 3, 1943), (Capt, USMC, Ret.), is an American scientist and former U.S. Marine Corps officer and naval aviator and NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be considered the first American cosmonaut. He did on this on March 14, 1995, in the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft for the Russian Mir-18 mission.

STS-42

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

STS-42 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 174 rockets, including 173 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 232 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.