Astronaut Dave Low born 1956

George David Low, born February 19, 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio, went into space three times during his career as an astronaut.

His first mission was aboard Columbia (STS-32) as mission specialist in January 1990.  He spent almost 11 days in space, which at the time was the longest shuttle mission yet.

His second mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-43) as mission specialist in August 1991.  He spent almost 9 hours in space.

His third and final mission was on Endeavour (STS-57) as mission specialist in June 1993. He spent almost 10 days in space. 

He passed away in March 2008 from colon cancer.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Peter (Jeff) Wisoff!

Peter "Jeff" Wisoff, born August 16, 1958 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) as mission specialist in June-July 1993.  He conducted a spacewalk with fellow astronaut David Low last almost 6 hours to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) science satellite.

His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-68) as mission specialist in September-October 1994. Wisoff relayed information of storms, lightning and fires to the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2) scientists.

Wisoff's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997.  It was the fifth space shuttle mission to the space station Mir.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2000, the 100th space shuttle mission of the program.  During the flight Wisoff performed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for a total of 14 hours.

Wisoff is married to fellow astronaut Tamara Jernigan.

Atlantis (STS-43) launched 1991

STS-43 crew (L-R): Shannon Lucid, James Adamson, John Blaha, David Low, Michael Baker

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-43), the ninth mission for this shuttle, was launched August 2, 1991 to deploy the fourth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-5).  Its crew consisted of Commander John Blaha, Pilot Michael Baker, Shannon Lucid, David Low and James Adamson.

Other than the deployment of the TDRS-5, the crew remained busy with a variety of experiments throughout the nine-day mission.

They returned to Earth on August 11.

Columbia (STS-32) launched 1990

Clockwise from top left: Marsha Ivins, David Low, Bonnie Dunbar, James Wetherbee, Daniel Brandenstein.

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-32), launched January 9, 1990,  was the 33rd mission of the shuttle program.  It was the first use of Launch Pad A at Kennedy Space Center's Complex 39 since 1986 after the platform went through extensive modifications.

Columbia's crew consisted of Commander Daniel Brandenstein, Pilot James Wetherbee, Mission Specialist Bonnie Dunbar, Mission Specialist Marsha Ivins and Mission Specialist David Low.

Columbia landed on January 20 at Edwards Air Force Base.

Space Shuttle Endeavor (STS-57) 1993

Front row (L-R) Pilot Brian Duffy, Commander Ronald J. Grabe

Back row (L-R): Mission Specialist 3 Peter J. Wisoff, Mission Specialist 2 Nancy J. Sherlock, Mission Specialist 4 Janice E. Voss, and Mission Specialist 1 G. David Low

Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off from Kennedy Space Center June 21, 1993.  The 10-day mission involved six astronauts, numerous biomedical and materials science experiments, one EVA, five stars (insignia), one satellite retrieval, one to two inches increase in height (due to spine lengthening in space) and about 4.1 million miles.

Pretty routine stuff, but in space, they don't much care for the non-routine stuff.