Happy birthday, astronaut Catherine Coleman!

Catherine "Cady" Coleman, born December 14, 1960 in Charleston, South Carolina, has been into space three times.  She received a B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in polymer science and engineering from University of Massachusetts.

Her first trip into space was aboard Columbia (STS-73) as mission specialist in October-November 1995. 

Her second trip was aboard Columbia (STS-93) as mission specialist in July 1999.  The main objective of this mission was the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Her third and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-20 launched in December 2010 to the International Space Station. She was part of Expeditions 26 and 27.  She returned to Earth in May 2011.

Columbia (STS-93) launched 1999

STS-93 crew (L-R): Eileen Collins, Steven Hawley, Jeffrey Ashby, Michel Tognini, Catherine Coleman.

STS-93 mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off July 23, 1999 with the first female commander of any shuttle mission.  Its crew consisted of Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeffrey Ashby, Michel Tognini (Centre National d'etudes Spatiales, CNES), Steven Hawley and Catherine Coleman.

The mission's primary objective was to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the most sophisticated of its kind ever built.

After this flight, Columbia went out of service for upgrading and did not fly again until 2002 (STS-109).

The crew returned to Earth July 28.

Soyuz TMA-20 launched 2010

L-R: Catherine Coleman, Dmitri Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli

Mission patch 

Soyuz TMA-20, launched December 15, 2010, carried the second crew of Expedition 26 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Dmitri Kondratyev (Roscosmos), Catherine Coleman (NASA) and Paolo Nespoli (ESA).  The spacecraft docked with the ISS two days later.

The first crew of Expedition 26 arrived on Soyuz TMA-01M in October. 

After 157 day, Soyuz TMA-20 undocked from the ISS and touched down in Kazakhstan May 24, 2011.