STS-130

George D. Zamka

• Birthday: 06/29/1962
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/23/2007
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

George David “Zambo” Zamka is an American NASA astronaut and United States Marine Corps pilot with over 3500 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Zamka piloted the Space Shuttle Discovery in its October 2007 mission to the International Space Station and served as the commander of mission STS-130 in February 2010.

Terry W. Virts

• Birthday: 12/01/1967
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/08/2010
• Last Flight: 11/23/2014

Terry W. Virts Jr. is a former NASA astronaut, and Colonel in the United States Air Force.

Kathryn P. Hire

• Birthday: 08/26/1959
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 04/17/1998
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

Kathryn Patricia “Kay” Hire is a NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions.

Nicholas Patrick

• Birthday: 11/19/1964
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/10/2006
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick, Ph.D. is a British-American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. His flight on the 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth person born in the United Kingdom to go into space.

Robert L. Behnken

• Birthday: 07/28/1970
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 03/11/2008
• Last Flight: 05/30/2020

Robert Louis “Bob” Behnken is a United States Air Force officer, retired NASA astronaut and former Chief of the Astronaut Office. Behnken holds a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering and holds the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Col. Behnken has logged over 1,000 flight hours in 25 different aircraft. He flew aboard Space Shuttle missions STS-123 and STS-130 as a Mission Specialist, accumulating over 378 hours in space, including 19 hours of spacewalk time. Behnken was also assigned as Mission Specialist 1 to the STS-400 rescue mission. He is married to fellow astronaut K. Megan McArthur.

Stephen Robinson

• Birthday: 10/26/1955
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 08/07/1997
• Last Flight: 02/08/2010

Stephen Kern Robinson is a former NASA astronaut.

STS-130

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

STS-130 was an ISS assembly flight with the primary payloads being the Tranquility module and the Cupola observatory. The mission began on February 8th 2010 at 09:14 UTC launching Commander George D. Zamka, Pilot Terry Virts, Mission Specialist 1 Kathryn P. Hire, Mission Specialist 2 Stephen K. Robinson, Mission Specialist 3 Nicholas Patrick & Mission Specialist 4 Robert L. Behnken to orbit. They docked with the ISS 2 days after launch. During the mission 3 spacewalks were conducted to install the Tranquility module. On day 6, the wake-up song played to the ISS crew was “The Ballad of Serenity” by Sonny Rhodes, the theme for science fiction show Firefly, and was played for Robert Behnken. The mission concluded after 13 days & 18 hours on February 22nd 2010 at 03:22:10 UTC.

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.