STS-97

Crew

Joseph R. Tanner

Status: Retired
1/21/1950 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 11/3/1994
Last Flight: 9/9/2006

Joseph Richard "Joe" Tanner is an American instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder, mechanical engineer, a former naval officer and aviator, and a former NASA astronaut. He was born in Danville, Illinois. He is unusual among astronauts as he did not have a background in flight test nor did he earn any advanced academic degrees. Typically those who did not do military flight test have an M.D. or Ph.D., if not a master's, whereas Tanner's path to becoming an astronaut followed operational military flying and then into NASA for operational jet training before being selected into the NASA Astronaut Corps in 1992, following an unsuccessful application in 1987.

Marc Garneau

Status: Retired
2/23/1949 -
Nationality: Canadian
Type: Government
First Flight: 10/5/1984
Last Flight: 12/1/2000

Garneau was one of the first Canadian Astronauts and he became the first Canadian in outer space in October 1984. In 1984, he was seconded to the new Canadian Astronaut Program (CAP), one of six chosen from over 4,000 applicants. He flew on the shuttle Challenger, STS-41-G from October 5 to 13, 1984, as payload specialist. He was promoted to Captain in 1986, and left the Navy in 1989, to become deputy director of the CAP. In 1992–93, he underwent further training to become a mission specialist. He worked as CAPCOM for a number of shuttle flights and was on two further flights himself: STS-77 (May 19 to 29, 1996) and STS-97 (to the ISS, November 30 to December 11, 2000). He has logged over 677 hours in space.

In February 2001, he was appointed executive vice-president of the Canadian Space Agency, and became its president on November 22, 2001.

Carlos I. Noriega

Status: Retired
10/8/1959 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 5/15/1997
Last Flight: 12/1/2000

Carlos Ismael Noriega is a Peruvian and U.S. citizen, NASA employee, a former NASA astronaut and a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.

Michael J. Bloomfield

Status: Retired
3/16/1959 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 9/26/1997
Last Flight: 4/8/2002

Michael John "Bloomer" Bloomfield is an American former astronaut and a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions.

Brent W. Jett Jr.

Status: Retired
10/5/1958 -
Nationality: American
Type: Government
First Flight: 1/11/1996
Last Flight: 9/9/2006

Brent Ward Jett Jr. is a retired American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace and aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut.

Rocket

Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 – Lockheed Martin Space Operations

• Family: Space Shuttle
• Length: 38.1 m
• Diameter: 8.4 m
• Launch Mass: 2040 T
• Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 24400 kg

The Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Space Operations with the first launch on 1992-05-07. Space Shuttle Endeavour OV-105 has 25 successful launches and 0 failed launches with a total of 25 launches. Space Shuttle Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is a retired orbiter from NASA’s Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built.
The United States Congress approved the construction of Endeavour in 1987 to replace Challenger, which was destroyed in 1986.
Structural spares built during the construction of Discovery and Atlantis were used in its assembly. NASA chose, on cost grounds, to build Endeavour from spares rather than refitting Enterprise or accepting a Rockwell International proposal to build two Shuttles for the price of one.

Agency

United Space Alliance – USA

• Type: Commercial
• Abbreviation: USA
• Founded: 1995
• Launchers: Space Shuttle
• Country: USA

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.