Back row (L-R): Charles Gemar, Marsha Ivins, Pierre Thuot
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-62), launched March 4, 1994, was a continuation of microgravity experiments. Its crew consisted of Commander John Casper, Pilot Andrew Allen, Pierre J. Thuot, Charles Gemar, and Marsha Ivins.
Charles "Sam" Gemar, born August 4, 1955 in Yankton, South Dakota, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and obtain the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army.
His first mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-38) as mission specialist in November 1990. The flight carried a classified payload into space for the Department of Defense.
His second flight was aboard Discovery (STS-48) as mission specialist in September 1991.
His third and final flight was aboard Columbia (STS-62) with fellow astronaut/birthday twin Andrew Allen.
Andrew Allen, born August 4, 1955 in Richboro, Pennsylvania, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions. He obtained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps.
His first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as pilot in July-August 1992. The mission deployed the Eruopean Space Agency's European Retrievable Carrier and the Tethered Satellite System, a joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency.
His second flight was as pilot on Columbia (STS-62) in March 1994 with fellow astronaut/birthday twin Charles Gemar.
His third and final flight was aboard Columbia (STS-75) as commander in February-March 1996. The mission was a reflight of the Tethered Satellite System.
Seated (L-R): Scott Horowitz, Andrew Allen, Franklin Chang-Diaz
Standing (L-R): Maurizio Cheli, Umberto Guidoni, Jeffrey Hoffman, Claude Nicollier
STS-75 mission patch
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-75), launched February 22, 1996, carried the Tethered Satellite System Reflight (TSS-1R) into orbit. Its crew consisted of Commander Andrew Allen, Pilot Scott Horowitz, Jeffrey Hoffman, Maurizio Cheli (ESA), Claude Nicollier (ESA), Franklin Chang-Diaz, and Umberto Guidoni (Italian Space Agency).
The crew planned to deploy the tether to 20.7 km, but the tether broke when over 19 km were deployed. The porous material, which made up the innermost core, contained trapped bubbles of air at atmospheric pressure. In space, the air bubbles began to escape and changed the electrical conductivity of the tether, which essentially melted.
Claude Nicolllier, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Ranco Malerba
Space Shuttle Atlantis took off Juy 31, 1992, mission STS-46, carrying Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut, Franklin Ramon Chang-Diza, the first Costa Rican astronaut and Franco Malerba, the first Italian astronaut.
Commander Loren J. Shriver, Pilot Andrew M. Allen, Mission Specialist 2 Marsha S. Ivins and Mission Specialist 3 Jeffrey A. Hoffman completed the crew.
The mission marked the 150th human spaceflight to reach orbit.
