STS-127

Mark L. Polansky

• Birthday: 06/02/1956
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/07/2001
• Last Flight: 07/15/2009

Mark Lewis “Roman” Polansky is an American aerospace engineer and research pilot and a former NASA astronaut. Polansky received the nickname “Roman” as a joke, because he shares a last name with director Roman Polanski. He flew on three Space Shuttle missions: STS-98, STS-116, and STS-127.

Douglas G. Hurley

• Birthday: 10/21/1966
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/15/2009
• Last Flight: 05/30/2020

Douglas Gerald Hurley is an engineer and retired NASA astronaut. He piloted Space Shuttle mission STS-127, which launched July 15, 2009. He was assigned and flew as pilot for STS-135, the final flight of the Space Shuttle program, in July 2011. He is also the first Marine to fly the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. His call sign is “Chunky” and was sometimes referred to by this name on the communication loops.

Julie Payette

• Birthday: 10/20/1963
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Canadian
• First Flight: 05/27/1999
• Last Flight: 07/15/2009

Julie Payette CC CMM COM CQ CD (born October 20, 1963) is the current Governor General of Canada, the 29th since Canadian Confederation. Before assuming office, she was a businesswoman, former member of the Canadian Astronaut Corps, and engineer. Payette has completed two spaceflights, STS-96 and STS-127, logging more than 25 days in space. She served as chief astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and has served as capsule communicator at NASA Mission Control Center in Houston.

Timothy Kopra

• Birthday: 04/09/1963
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/15/2009
• Last Flight: 12/15/2015

Timothy Lennart “Tim” Kopra is an engineer, a Colonel in the United States Army and a retired NASA astronaut. He served aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer for Expedition 20, returning to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-128 mission on September 11, 2009. He returned to the ISS for the second time in December 2015, as part of Expedition 46 and as the Commander of 47.

Christopher Cassidy

• Birthday: 01/04/1970
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/15/2009
• Last Flight: 04/09/2020

Christopher John “Chris” Cassidy is a NASA astronaut and United States Navy SEAL. Chris Cassidy achieved the rank of Captain in the U.S. Navy. He was the Chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA from July 2015 until June 2017.

Cassidy attended York High School, in York, Maine. He then graduated from the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1989. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the United States Naval Academy in 1993 and a Master of Science degree in Ocean Engineering from MIT in 2000. While in the Navy, Cassidy passed BUD/S and became a Navy SEAL. While a SEAL he served several tours of duty supporting the fight in the War on Terror. His first spaceflight was on Space Shuttle mission STS-127, and his second was as a flight engineer for Expedition 35/36, launched aboard Soyuz TMA-08M. He was in space between July 15–31, 2009 and March 28 – September 10, 2013. Cassidy has worked as a CAPCOM for both International Space Station and Space Shuttle missions in the past.

Cassidy announced his retirement from both the Navy and NASA Astronaut Corps on May 28, 2021.

Thomas Marshburn

• Birthday: 08/29/1960
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 07/15/2009
• Last Flight: 11/11/2021

Thomas Henry “Tom” Marshburn is an American physician and a NASA astronaut. He served as a Mission Specialist on STS-127. Marshburn was a member of the Soyuz TMA-07M crew which launched to ISS in December 2012 to join Expedition 34. Served as flight engineer for Expedition 34 and 35.

David Wolf

• Birthday: 08/23/1956
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/18/1993
• Last Flight: 07/15/2009

David Alexander Wolf is an American astronaut, medical doctor and electrical engineer. Wolf has been to space four times. Three of his spaceflights were short-duration Space Shuttle missions, the first of which was STS-58 in 1993, and his most recent spaceflight was STS-127 in 2009. Wolf also took part in a long-duration mission aboard the Russian space station Mir which lasted 128 days, and occurred during Mir EO-24. He was brought to Mir aboard STS-86 in September 1997, and landed aboard STS-89 in January 1998. In total Wolf has logged more than 4,040 hours in space. He is also a veteran of 7 spacewalks totaling 41hrs 17min in both Russian and American spacesuits.

STS-127

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

STS-127 (ISS assembly flight 2J/A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the twenty-third flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour. The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliver and install the final two components of the Japanese Experiment Module: the Exposed Facility (JEM EF), and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-ES). When Endeavour docked with the ISS on this mission in July 2009, it set a record for the most humans in space at the same time in the same vehicle, the first time thirteen people have been at the station at the same time. It also tied the record of thirteen people in space at any one time.

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.