Endeavour (STS-61) launched 1993

STS-61 crew

Front row (L-R): Ken Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Story Musgrave, Claude Nicollier

Back row (L-R): Richard Covey, Jeffrey Hoffman, Thomas Akers

STS-61 mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-61), launched December 2, 1993, was the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.  Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Covey, Pilot Ken Bowersox, Kathryn Thornton, Claude Nicollier (ESA), Jeffrey Hoffman, Story Musgrave, and Thomas Akers. The crew conducted 5 EVAs during the mission.  Musgrave and Hoffman conducted three EVAs for a total of around 22 hours.  Thornton and Akers performed two spacewalks for about 13 hours.  

They returned to Earth December 13, after spending almost 11 days in space. 

Columbia (STS-75) launched 1996

STS-75 crew

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.

They returned to Earth March 9.

Happy birthday, Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier!

Claude Nicollier, born September 2, 1944, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights and Switzerland's first astronaut.

His historic first flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-46) as mission specialist in July 1992.  The mission's main objectives were to deploy the ESA's European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) and the joint project between NASA and the Italian Space Agency, the Tethered Satellite System (TSS).

His second mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-61) as mission specialist in December 1993.  Nicollier used Endeavour's robotic arm to capture and re-deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.

His third flight was on Columbia (STS-75) as mission specialist February-March 1996.  The mission's main objective was to deploy another tethered satellite TSS-1R, a 'reflight' from STS-46.

Nicollier's fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-103) in December 1999, another servicing trip to the Hubble Telescope.  Nicollier performed an EVA as part of the maintenance and repair of the Hubble.

Discovery (STS-103) launched 1999

Left to right; C. Michael Foale, Claude Nicollier, Scott J. Kelly, Curtis L. Brown, Jr., Jean-Francois Clervoy, John M. Grunsfeld and Steven L. Smith

Mission patch

Discovery blasted off December 19, 1999 on mission STS-103 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.  Her international crew consisted of Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, mission specialists John Grunsfeld, Jean-Francois Clervoy (ESA), Michael Foale, Steven Smith and Claude Nicollier (ESA)

Four EVAs were scheduled but scaled back to only three.  Smith and Grunsfeld each performed two, while Foale and Nicollier did one.  Each EVA lasted a little over 8 hours.

Discovery attained the highest altitude for a Space Shuttle flight, 378 miles!  It was the last solo flight for Discovery since the rest were to the International Space Station. It was the third time a crew has spent Christmas in space.

It was the fourth and final flight of Claude Nicollier, the first Swiss astronaut. It was Scott Kelly's inaugural flight.

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-46) launched 1992

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.