STS-126

Christopher Ferguson

• Birthday: 09/01/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/09/2006
• Last Flight: 07/08/2011

Christopher J. Ferguson is a Boeing commercial astronaut and a retired United States Navy Captain and NASA astronaut. He was the pilot of Space Shuttle Atlantis on his first mission to space, STS-115, which launched on September 9, 2006 and returned to Earth on September 21, 2006. He then commanded STS-126 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. In 2011, he was assigned as commander of STS-135, which was the final mission of the space shuttle program.

On December 9, 2011, he retired from NASA and is now currently director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program. In August 2018, Ferguson was assigned to the first test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner.

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.

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper

• Birthday: 02/07/1963
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 09/09/2006
• Last Flight: 11/15/2008

Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper is an American Naval officer, engineer, and a former NASA astronaut. She has achieved the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. She is also a qualified and experienced salvage officer. Her major salvage projects include de-stranding the tanker Exxon Houston off the coast of Barbers Point, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and developing the plan for the Peruvian Navy salvage of the Peruvian submarine Pacocha.

Stefanyshyn-Piper has received numerous honors and awards, such as the Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, and two Navy Achievement Medals. She has flown on two Space Shuttle missions, STS-115 and STS-126, during which she completed five spacewalks totaling 33 hours and 42 minutes. As of 2018, she ranks 39th on the all-time list of space walkers by duration.

Donald Pettit

• Birthday: 04/20/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/23/2002
• Last Flight: 12/21/2011

Donald Roy Pettit is an American chemical engineer and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of two long-duration stays aboard the International Space Station, one space shuttle mission and a six-week expedition to find meteorites in Antarctica. As of 2018, at age 63, he is NASA’s oldest active astronaut.

Robert S. Kimbrough

• Birthday: 06/04/1967
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 11/15/2008
• Last Flight: 04/23/2021

Robert Shane Kimbrough is a retired United States Army officer, and a NASA astronaut. He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Kimbrough is a veteran of two spaceflights, the first being a Space Shuttle flight, and the second being a 6-month mission to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz craft. He was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 50 and later spent 6 months on the ISS as part of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission. He retired from NASA on July 31, 2022.

Sandra Magnus

• Birthday: 10/30/1964
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/07/2002
• Last Flight: 07/08/2011

Sandra Hall Magnus is an American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She returned to Earth with the crew of STS-119 Discovery on March 28, 2009, after having spent 134 days in orbit. She was assigned to the crew of STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle. She is also a licensed amateur radio operator with the call sign KE5FYE.

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-126

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

STS-126 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour. The purpose of the mission, referred to as ULF2 by the ISS program, was to deliver equipment and supplies to the station, to service the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints (SARJ), and repair the problem in the starboard SARJ that had limited its use since STS-120.

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.